The Horn Point Laboratory, in the historic town of Cambridge, is nestled on the banks of the Choptank River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
The faculty, staff, and students of Horn Point Laboratory engage in research on the biology, chemistry, physics, and ecology of organisms and ecosystems from the wetlands and estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay to the continental shelf and the world's oceans.
Directed by Michael Sieracki, HPL is an environmental research facility of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science the principal institution for advanced environmental research and graduate studies within the University System of Maryland. Areas of scientific expertise include physical and biological oceanography, marsh and wetland ecology, nutrient dynamics and eutrophication, genetic and molecular biology, biogeochemistry, systems ecology, benthic-pelagic interactions, and shellfish aquaculture.
Horn Point is a member of the Southern Association of Marine Laboratories and the National Association of Marine Laboratories, and is home to one of the largest oyster hatcheries on the East Coast. The Horn Point Oyster Culture Facility produces a variety of oyster larvae for use in oyster research, oyster restoration, and educational projects.
To learn more about the lab’s history in Dorchester County, faculty member Court Stevenson authored this Colonial History of Horn Point.
