April 11, 2025
Jacqueline Grebmeier receiving her award from the USM Board of Regents Chair, Linda Gooden, for excellence in Arctic sciences research. Credit: Thomas Nappi.
Professor Jacqueline Grebmeier of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) has received a 2025 Excellence in Scholarship or Research Award, the highest honor bestowed by the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents to recognize exemplary faculty achievement.
Dr. Grebmeier, a professor at UMCES’ Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL), was awarded the honor for "exceptional scholarship or research that extends or deepens the bounds of knowledge." Grebmeier is one of several scientists at the state-supported Solomons laboratory who conducts field research in the Arctic. For 40 years, she has specialized in understanding how ecosystems at high latitudes are responding to climate warming and the loss of sea ice.
"I appreciate this award as an honor for myself and our research team because it recognizes the value of the many years of long term, time series and cooperative studies that are tracking the ecosystem response to warming seawater and declining sea ice conditions in the Polar North," Grebmeier said.
Notably, she has led the development of the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO), which was established to monitor ecosystem response to warming conditions in the Pacific Arctic. Recently, the DBO concept has expanded globally through a Pan-Arctic DBO network of developing international programs in the Arctic.
"Dr. Grebmeier’s initiation and deployment of the DBO system has been transformative to understanding how the Arctic ecosystem has been changing over the past few decades and predictions of future changes," said Dr. Carys Mitchelmore, CBL Interim Director. "Her expertise is called upon by international governments, agencies, and other groups around the world to monitor and understand changes in ecosystems."
From left: Jay A. Perman (USM Chancellor), Jacqueline Grebmeier (UMCES Professor), Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm (UMCES President) and Linda R. Gooden (Board of Regents Chair). Credit: Thomas Nappi.
Mitchelmore continued, "Jacqueline’s scholarship and research portfolio is outstanding in terms of global impact, international recognition, and funding support for her Arctic ecosystem program. Her expertise and collaborative approach have been called upon to advise the national, including the executive branch, and international Arctic programs. Her high-quality long-term research datasets have been instrumental in informing national and international policy decisions."
Grebmeier’s contributions have been formally recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Arctic Science Committee, and the North Pacific Research Board. She has led many ship-based research programs, serving as a co-chief scientist on a 2022 cruise that included a stop at the North Pole aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy. She is also a former member of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, a federal agency that advises the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch on Arctic research needs.
Dr. Grebmeier completed her Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She holds an M.M.A. in Marine Resource Management from the University of Washington Seattle, an M.S. in Biology from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Zoology from the University of California, Davis; indeed, she exemplifies the caliber and spirit of an UMCES Scientist.
Over UMCES's 100-year history, it has been renowned for its groundbreaking research on coastal and terrestrial ecosystems and boasts many globally eminent faculty scholars. Grebmeier joins an impressive group of UMCES Faculty Members who have received Regents Faculty Awards, including Professors Xin Zhang, Eric Schott, Jeffrey Cornwell, Mario Tamburri, Russell Hill, Tom Miller, Andrew Elmore, Keith Eshleman, Patricia Glibert, Rose Jagus, Rodger Harvey, Ed Houde, Michael Kemp, Tom Malone, Margaret Palmer, Allen Place, David Secor, and Diane Stoecker.
