Each year the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science gives awards for outstanding faculty accomplishments at our Commencement ceremony: the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award and the President’s Award for Excellence in Application of Science. This year, we introduced a new award, the President's Award for Outstanding Research Support. UMCES’s seventh annual Commencement ceremony was held virtually for the first time this year on May 29, 2020.
President’s Award for Excellence in Application of Science
Professor Michael Wilberg was awarded President’s Award for Excellence in Application of Science. A professor in fisheries science at UMCES’ Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Southern Maryland, he works on understanding population dynamics and management of a range of fish and shellfish species, including oysters and blue crabs. He is recognized for his ongoing and impactful efforts on the science and outstanding communication of oyster management with stakeholders, partners, and policymakers. He led the first Oyster Stock Assessment for the State of Maryland in more than 135 years, resulting in estimates of the abundance and level of sustainable exploitation to help guide policy on oyster management. He was also lead modeler for the OysterFutures research program, an experiment in consensus building and testing a new approach for making regulations and policies. He is recognized as an international expert on stock assessment and has served as technical adviser to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the International Whaling Commission, and South Africa in developing their fisheries management plans.
Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award
Associate Professor Matthew Fitzpatrick was recognized with the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. He is a spatial ecologist studying the responses of ecosystems to global change UMCES’ Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, During his time at UMCES, Matt has made a clear mark as a mentor, making mentoring a priority within his lab and throughout the broader community. He often adopts “orphaned” students when their original advisors have had to leave UMCES, and he has also worked with and mentored students from neighboring Frostburg State University. He is broadly known around the Appalachian Laboratory to have an open- door policy for anyone on campus to discuss both science, as well as outside interests like astronomy and photography. He guides, while also allowing students to develop their own paths, supporting them “unreservedly in whatever their goals may be.”
President’s Award for Outstanding Research Support
Senior Faculty Research Assistant Janet Barnes was given the President’s Award for Outstanding Research Support. She been a mentor and a positive role model for UMCES’ faculty research assistants, exhibiting long-term commitment to excellence, a genuine scientific curiosity, analytical thinking, and always going above and beyond with support of research and the UMCES community. She started at Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Southern Maryland in summer of 1978 and was the first female mate on research vessel at UMCES. She helped start the Solomons Harbor Monitoring Project, worked with the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic program coordinating logistics and science support, and led the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation as Chief Operating Officer. She was brought on to help with the Alliance for Coastal Technologies and later the Marine Environment Resource Center to serve as research coordinator, where she does both hands-on science and management, coordinating with private sector and agencies to facilitate the development and adoption of green ship and green port innovations.
