The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science offers a variety of educational opportunities, starting as early as kindergarten, to establish an interest in environmental science. With K-12 education programs through the Horn Point and Appalachian laboratories and a Chesapeake Bay marine research experience for undergraduates, UMCES strives to inspire future scientists as they grow up and as their interests grow into a full-fledged environmental research career.
Research Experiences for undergraduates
The Maryland Sea Grant offers a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program for students majoring in such fields as biology, chemistry, ecology, environmental science, engineering, physics, marine science, and mathematics. Over the course of 12 weeks, each student works with a mentor on a research project at Chesapeake Biological Laboratory or Horn Point Laboratory. The Maryland Sea Grant Program, with support from the National Science Foundation provides each fellow with a stipend, dormitory costs, and round-trip travel expenses.
IMET Summer Internship
Each summer, the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology at the Inner Harbor offers students the opportunity to conduct a nine-week project research in marine sciences applying molecular tools. The summer internship provides an orientation to working in a lab, seminars on the use of molecular techniques relevant to fisheries, energy production, and environmental research, introductions to bioanalytics and DNA-sequencing, a research project with an IMET faculty mentor, and a one-day workshop on communicating science.
K-12 programs
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s role in the classroom starts early. It has long offered unique learning opportunities for students in K-12 in addition to its graduate programs. We have education facilities and learning opportunities at our Cambridge and Frostburg campuses, strategies for teaching climate change geared toward middle and high school teachers and their students, and a suite of ocean science and education resources made for educators.
Public education
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science offers a variety of opportunities for the general public to peek into the science world and our part in it. Our labs open their doors to the public for free seminars hosted by visiting scholars and our own experts and our Visitors Center welcomes guests to learn about the health of the Chesapeake Bay, current research projects and more through videos and exhibits.