The Horn Point Laboratory (HPL) of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) invites applications from individuals who demonstrate excellence in innovative research, broadening participation, and translational science to solve environmental problems. Candidates in any research specialty that complements and enhances our core competencies and mission in areas of estuarine or marine biogeochemistry, plankton ecology, numerical modeling, restoration ecology (e.g. oysters, SAVs, living shorelines), and oceanography are encouraged to apply. Specific areas of interest that we have identified include planktonic microeukaryote ecology (phytoplankton, HABs, protist ecology, mixotrophy, microbial food webs) and benthic productivity (submerged aquatic vegetation). We are also open to emerging topic areas and specialization that may complement our faculty in new ways. We anticipate between one and three tenure track faculty positions at Horn Point Laboratory at the ranks of Assistant or Associate Professor.
Research at HPL is inter- and trans-disciplinary, with many collaborations within HPL, and across all UMCES research units. This research reaches across a “genes to ecosystems” continuum in a diverse array of terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine environments, and spans scales of local, regional, and global importance. A key part of the UMCES mission is unique for an academic institution – to provide objective, scientific advice on environmental management and policy to the State of Maryland, with particular interest in the health of the Chesapeake Bay. All faculty are encouraged to contribute to UMCES’s nascent Chesapeake Global Collaborative (CGC) initiative (https://www.umces.edu/chesapeake-global-collaboratory), which aims to use big data approaches to solve big problems by engaging diverse voices, and developing innovative tools and products.
The Horn Point Laboratory is committed to increasing the diversity of our campus community, to further equity and inclusion, and is taking action to promote and improve our culture of civility through policies and practices.
The Horn Point Laboratory is located on an 800-acre former estate on the banks of the Choptank River in Cambridge, in the heart of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. HPL scientists have multiple collaborations with our neighboring system institutions including Salisbury University and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, as well as universities around the world. HPL is home to one of the largest oyster hatcheries on the East Coast, producing oyster spat for restoration and the industry, as well as providing applied research opportunities. Our research facilities include walk-in culturing chambers, analytical services for nutrients and pigments, a small boat fleet, shared microscopes, extensive flowing seawater laboratories, high performance computing, and high internet bandwidth.
Faculty positions at HPL and UMCES provide a unique opportunity to focus primarily on research, mentor graduate students, co-teach with other UMCES faculty a relatively light load of graduate-level classes, and participate in collaborative application and outreach of science.
UMCES is Maryland’s graduate university for the environment and one of the twelve institutions of the University System of Maryland (USM). Maryland’s people and environments are diverse, including urban-to-rural and mountains-to-sea gradients. The UMCES mission includes advancing world-class fundamental and applied research, promoting graduate-level education, furthering community engagement and science application, and providing scientific expertise for environmental policies on topics such as air, land, water, fisheries and wildlife management in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and beyond. UMCES scientists are developing solutions to help guide our state, nation, and world toward a more environmentally sustainable and equitable future through six highly collaborative, UMCES institutions — Appalachian Laboratory, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Horn Point Laboratory, the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, the Integration and Application Network, and the Maryland Sea Grant College. An over-arching Chesapeake Global Collaboratory is being developed to link big data approaches to environmental problem solving.