MEES IN THE NEWS

september 2025 - national preparedness month

NEWS ARCHIVE

IMPACTFUL & INSPIRING: A LOOK AT dr. caroline Solomon (‘06, Ph.d.)

September 24, 2025 - Dr. Caroline Solomon (nee Miller) (‘06, Ph.D.) was named the next President of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and Vice President of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and began her new role on August 18. Prior to this, Dr. Solomon was a biology professor at Gallaudet University, a school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Washington, D.C., and has for over 25 years shared her passion for science and the environment. Advised by Dr. Patricia Glibert (UMCES), Caroline Solomon earned her doctoral degree in MEES at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Fall 2006. Dr. Solomon was recently featured in an article by the Computer, Mathematical & Natural Sciences (CMNS) which houses the MEES Graduate Program at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP). A native of Delaware, Dr. Solomon details her own personal STEM journey overcoming contracting spinal meningitis as an infant which caused her to become deaf, to noting the encouraging and supportive parents and extended family and friends that allowed her to dream big and “never stopped me from doing anything that I wanted to do”, she recalls in the article. To read more information on Caroline, please click here.

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MEES RESEARCH CENTER

geomorphology classification SYSTEMS:

A land hazard assessment & Environmental protection study

christopher keane (Ph.D. ‘97)

Christopher M. Keane (‘97, Ph.D.) is Director of the Geoscience Profession and Higher Education for the  American Geosciences Institute (AGI), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Keane previously served as Director of Technology and Communications for AGI. Under the advisement of Dr. Robert Ridky, formerly professor of Geology at the University of Maryland College Park,  who is now the Education Director at the U.S. Geological Survey, Keane earned both his doctoral degree in MEES in 1997 and a B.S. in Geology in 1992 from the University of Maryland, College Park.   His dissertation “Terrain Texture and its potential for landform classification in the western piedmont of Maryland” focused on the development of a definitive geomorphological classification system in an effort to identify and map distinct regions for land management, including hazard assessment and environmental protection initiatives. Prior to joining MEES, Christopher began in the Geological & Geophysical Engineering program at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1989, but ended up in the undergraduate bachelor’s geology program at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) a year later in 1990.  Christopher graduated with his bachelor’s in geology (with honors) and had an opportunity to take a position at the US Bureau of Mines working in industrial mineral economics.   A year later, Dr. Robert Ridky, who was Christopher’s former undergraduate geology instructor, reached out to Christian concerning a research opportunity involving teaching teachers how to incorporate geoscience data into their lessons.  Christopher joined the Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science graduate program focusing on quantitative geomorphology research while working with teachers and communicating geoscience and authored a couple of software packages to help teachers use geoscience data in the classroom more easily. One of the publishers, AGI (American Geosciences Institute) began regularly collaborating with Christopher, and after earning his doctoral degree in MEES in 1997,  did post doctoral work as a Research Associate through a large grant from the Department of Energy and joined AGI conducting geoscience data preservation and management which included repository work and meeting with oil and mining industry people.  Christopher credits this period in broadening his perspective of what the field of geology entailed and how scientific knowledge acquired from conducting the science can directly be applied to solve real environmental issues, improve public health, ensure resource continuity, and develop innovative tools and medicines.   In 2000, Christopher was appointed Director, subsequently expanded to become the Editor for Geotimes, the Institute's monthly geo-news magazine, and editor for the Institute's annual Directory of Geoscience Departments. He has also served as co-author for Earthlnquiry, an expanding series of geoscience exercise modules published through W.H. Freeman and Company.  In May 2020, AGI initiated a research project to investigate the short- and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the geoscience workforce and academic programs.  Along with Dr. Leila Gonzales, Keane served as the project's co-investigator tasked with assessing the magnitude and permanence of changes in the pre and post pandemic environment.  Initially a 12 month study, the project expanded into a multi-year investigation which concluded in December 2022.  Using data collected through a multi-cohort longitudinal survey between May 2020 and December 2022, the study focused on five primary cohorts: geoscience employers, non-academic geoscientists, academic faculty, geoscience college and university students as well as recent geoscience graduates from 2014 to 2022.  The results highlighted the common challenge experienced by the study cohorts: budget cuts, staffing issues, limiting fieldwork and travel and declines in student enrollment.    For more information on Christopher, please click here.

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Dr. allison reilly

enabling resilient infrastructure in urban,

rural & coastal communities

Allison Reilly is Associate Professor and the Pedro E. Wasmer Professor in Engineering at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP).  A longtime MEES faculty member, Dr. Reilly also serves as a faculty affiliate at the Center for Disaster Resilience, an interdisciplinary research hub based at the CEE Department.   Her research focuses on identifying governance systems that enable resilient infrastructure and strong communities. She has a particular focus on risk equity in rural, coastal communities vulnerable to sea-level rise, and how investments in transportation infrastructure that are integrated within broader resilience strategies may enable more just transitions. Dr. Reilly has advised many MEES graduate students, and is the instructor for the undergraduate probability and statistics course for civil and environmental engineers (ENCE302) and a graduate disaster resilience seminar (ENCE698T).   Reilly was recently awarded an Early-Career Research Fellowship from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences.  The program’s fellowship supports emerging scientific leaders working on oil system safety, environmental protection, and human health issues relevant to the Gulf region.  In the CEE Department award announcement, the article notes the program’s research scope includes a focus on the well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems.  Dr. Reilly’s current research examines the threats faced by coastal communities along Maryland’s Eastern Shore,  and the opportunity to extend the research beyond the conventional protection of coastal infrastructure in large urban areas or locations perceived as high-value, but, according to the CEE article, to also advance the research into “rural areas and inequities arising out of incentives and disincentives that exist within the federal disaster relief system” (article).  Dr. Reilly aims to gain insight into more effective and efficient emergency management during flood conditions, promote equitable allocation of federal disaster aid, and develop strategies that anticipate and protect against catastrophes looking to transfer lessons learned from challenges between the two regions. “We have to look more carefully at some of the unintended consequences of policymaking,” Reilly states in the article.   “My hope is to see disaster policy that isn’t unintentionally disproportionate or inequitable.” (article).

Dr. Allison Reilly is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty at College Park in 2016.  Dr. Reilly is the recipient of a 2022 NSF CAREER Award, and a 2019 National Academy of Science Gulf Coast Research Early-Career Fellowship and is currently an associate editor in the area of risk and resilience for the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems and an editorial board member for the journals Risk Analysis and Decision Analysis. Prior to her appointment at the University of Maryland, Dr. Reilly was a research fellow at the University of Michigan and a post-doctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University. In addition, Dr. Reilly was a research analyst for a federally-funded research and development center in support of the Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Reilly holds an MS and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and a BS in Civil Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Reilly is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis, INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, and the American Society of Civil Engineers who works at the intersection of infrastructure resilience and individual decision-making. She was previously a research fellow at the University of Michigan and a post-doctoral research associate at Johns Hopkins University. Reilly also served as a research analyst for the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, a federally-funded research and development center in support of the Department of Homeland Security.

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MEES RESEARCH CENTER

biochemistry & microbial fuel cells in oyster aquaculture ecosystems

michael kalinowski (‘24, E&O)

Michael Kalinowski (‘24, E&O) is a first year doctoral student working with Dr. Sairah Malkin (UMCES) and Dr. Jeffrey Cornwell (UMCES) on biochemistry and microbial fuel cells, specifically if microbial fuel cells can remove sulfide under oyster aquaculture cages.  Oyster aquaculture is a rapidly growing industry in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters which stimulates economic activity and may provide a host of ecosystem benefits.  However, in high-density oyster populations, oyster biodeposits can accumulate on the seabed faster than the local microbial community can break it down which can create a toxic buildup of sulfide and harm the localized environment. Michael’s doctoral research proposes to use benthic microbial fuel cells (BMFC’s) to accelerate sulfide oxidation in these areas. 
Michael’s unique journey to the MEES graduate program began growing up surrounded by the Great Lakes in Michigan as a child, fascinated by the vastness of the lakes and oceans. Questions of how organisms migrated and their interactions with the ecosystem piqued Michael’s interest, but instead of further exploring, Michael pursued an engineering career, acquiring skills in problem solving and data analysis earning his Bachelor’s in Industrial and Operations Engineering (with honors) at the University of Michigan in 2018 and was a Dean’s List recipient for nearly every year in the program.   Following graduation, Michael had the opportunity to work as an industrial engineer at the Boeing Corporation on the 777 airplane program working to efficiently streamline airplane wing production further upstream; a solution that had eluded the team for years.  Michael created plans for the manufacturing team compiling data from various meetings with group mechanics, manufacturing managers and engineers detailing the manpower, parts, and timeline necessary to complete the traveled work with the least amount of impact on future scheduled work.  The results were presented and the system tests showed after several months once implemented a successful solution to the problem allowing an efficient streamlined manufacturing workflow.  According to Boeing manager Evelyn Manzana, Micheal’s determination to solve problems and commitment to partnering with various teams led them to assign increasing roles on various other critical teams in the 777 program: the Tank Closure (TC), Pressure Test (PT) and Service Ready wing assembly teams.  These projects had stalled in the past due to various reasons, and 777 Program Leaders were pushing to complete these initiatives.  Michael developed the project's timeline, collaborated with multiple shop areas and functions and presented the process to Program Leaders to gain approval. Manzana notes that due to Michael’s persistence these projects which were supposed to have been completed years ago were now on track to make significant progress and were close to final implementation.  The Maryland Sea Grant recently interviewed Michael on his process in changing careers to the marine sciences. In the article, Michael states that the pandemic was an opportunity for him to take a step back and reevaluate life priorities and goals. “For me, it was my career”, Michael states, “I was an industrial engineer at an aerospace company. [snip] The job was good. [snip] However, [I found] the tasks repetitive and usually easy to complete. Thoughts about whether this career was the correct choice ..[snip] crystallized into pursuing a career change.” (article). Michael details composing a list of all possible careers of interest which included different engineering disciplines, teaching and working for the FBI. On the advice of a friend, Michael enrolled in an 11-week self-paced introductory online oceanography course offered through the University of Washington’s Professional and Continuing Education Program. Michael credits this experience as one of the confirmations in pursuing a career in the marine sciences. With his parents full support, Michael actively began to pursue a career pivot and through career fairs and guidance from NOAA employees, Michael matriculated into the Master’s MEES graduate program at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) in 2022 working with Dr. Sairah Malkin at Horn Point Laboratory (HPL) in Cambridge, MD. 

Michael’s thesis research involved creating both microbial fuel cells and microbial electrochemical snorkels to oxidize sulfide, which can accumulate in sediments under farmed oyster cages.  While oysters, often referred to as “ecological engineers”, provide a variety of ecosystem services including: habitat for diverse marine life (reefs), water filtration and through biodeposition stimulate local microbial activity and denitrification, in areas with high-density oyster populations, like oyster cages in farms, the large volume of biodeposits can accumulate on the seabed faster than the local microbial community can break it down.  In these anaerobic (low oxygen) environments, certain bacteria switch to sulfate, which is abundant in sea water, to break down the organic matter. This process produces hydrogen sulfide which at high concentrations can become toxic to nearby marine life.  Michael’s thesis research proposed exploring the feasibility of using benthic microbial fuel cells (BMFCs) to accelerate sulfide oxidation in areas of high biodeposit accumulation, below oyster aquaculture cages. After only two short years in Fall 2025, Michael switched to the MEES doctoral (Ph.D.) program.  Michael’s current doctoral research further expands his thesis research on adapting BMFC’s sturdy enough to work in coastal environments for months at a time.  According to Dr. Malkin, Michael’s engineering skills and background experience have been extremely critical on this project and the results could be quite useful to the oyster farming community.  Currently, the next phase of research involves analyzing the DNA of the sediment to better understand which bacteria are present and how they interact with both the BMFC’s and the microbial electrochemical snorkels. Understanding the microbial community is critical to optimizing these bioelectrochemical treatments and ensuring their long-term success in the field. Michael recently wrote a Maryland Sea Grant article on this research which includes an in depth look at the project here. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, hiking, running, and cheering on the Michigan Wolverines.  Upon graduation, Michael aims to further inspire the next generation of future scientists and enter a government research facility at NOAA or elsewhere. For more information on Michael, please click here.

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