MEES IN THE NEWS

september 2026 - national water quality month

NEWS ARCHIVE

MEES RESEARCH CENTER

from farm fields to clean water: research & solutions for nutrient management and chesapeake bay water quality

dr. gurpal toor (UMCP)

Dr. Gurpal S. Toor is Professor and Extension Specialist in Nutrient Management and Water Quality in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology (ENST) at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has a pending MEES Graduate Program faculty appointment under the Earth & Ocean Systems Foundation.

Dr. Toor’s research and Extension program focuses on understanding and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from agricultural landscapes to waterways, with particular emphasis on protecting water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Excess nutrients from farms can fuel eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and low-oxygen “dead zones.” His work investigates the mechanisms and pathways by which these nutrients move from soils and fields into drainage ditches, streams, and rivers, and develops practical tools and management practices to keep nutrients in the root zone for crop use while minimizing losses to water. Current efforts include intensive monitoring of nutrient fluxes from small agricultural catchments across Maryland (using high-frequency sensors and sampling during storms) to provide real-world data that can improve models and guide restoration policies.

He earned his B.S. (Hons.) in Agriculture & Chemistry (1993) and M.S. in Soil Fertility and Chemistry (1996) from Punjab Agricultural University in India, followed by a Ph.D. in Environmental Soil Science from Lincoln University in New Zealand (2002). After postdoctoral work at the University of Delaware and a research associate position at the University of Arkansas, he spent a decade (2007–2017) rising from Assistant to Full Professor of Soil & Water Science at the University of Florida. He joined the University of Maryland faculty in 2017.

An internationally recognized scientist, Dr. Toor is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America (2023) and a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy (2025). He has secured more than $22 million in external funding, published over 127 peer-reviewed papers (with thousands of citations and an h-index of 48), authored dozens of Extension publications, and delivered hundreds of presentations. He has mentored numerous graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty, and serves in editorial and advisory roles for journals and agencies, including contributions to Maryland’s Phosphorus Management Tool and the Chesapeake Bay Program. He plans to contribute to MEES through graduate student mentoring, special-topics courses related to nutrient transport and water quality, and participation in the Earth & Ocean Systems Foundation. For more on Dr. Toor, please click here.

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tracing nitrogen legacies and algal bloom drivers: research & solutions for national water quality

robert sabo (PH.D., ‘18, M.S., ‘11)

Dr. Robert Daniel Sabo (Ph.D., ‘18) is a Project Lead for the National Nutrient Inventory (NNI) within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water. In this role, his primary duties include leading research that examines long-term, decadal shifts in nationwide nitrogen and phosphorus inventories, with a heavy focus on evaluating watershed nutrient balances across critical systems like the Chesapeake Bay and the Mississippi River basin. His work incorporates modern machine learning models and artificial intelligence to map out sources of water pollution, predict harmful algal bloom risks, and address drinking water nitrate violations.

Advised by Dr. Keith Eshleman, Robert entered the MEES program as a Master’s student in Fall 2011, with his thesis research focused on how a nitrogen-saturated forested watershed responds to declining air pollution, in an effort to understand the mechanisms governing nitrogen storage and release, and to determine if cleaner air translates into immediate water quality improvements for downstream ecosystems. Three short years later, after earning his Master’s in MEES, Robert matriculated into the doctoral track and further expanded his master's thesis by scaling up the geographic size, expanding from purely forested to mixed-use landscapes, and looking backward in time using tree rings to track historical environmental changes. Robert aimed to demonstrate that cutting air pollution rapidly protects downstream water quality in vital ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay by preventing toxic algal blooms and aquatic "dead zones".

Prior to joining the MEES graduate program, Robert Sabo earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Mount Saint Mary’s University in May 2011, graduating cum laude with membership in the George Henry Miles Honors Program. His capstone honors thesis project explored the impacts of gypsy moth defoliation on soil productivity and forest plant biodiversity on ridge top systems on College Mountain, an ambitious comparative plot-based study that was awarded the Barrett Prize for Top Senior Thesis. His undergraduate background also included brief study at the U.S. Air Force Academy and Tidewater Community College, alongside early work history as a university Lab Analyst performing rigorous water quality analysis and serving as a freshman biology peer tutor. Additionally, he completed a volunteer summer internship at the Virginia Tech Agricultural Extension Office in 2009, helping install sustainable landscape practices and evaluating native plant species for stormwater phytoremediation. He was also selected as a highly competitive Maryland Sea Grant / NSF REU Fellow in Summer 2010 at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, where he carried out a statewide survey mapping perfluorocarbon (PFC) chemical contamination trends in Maryland surface waters. Immediately before beginning his graduate studies, he served as a Field Technician for the Maryland Biological Stream Survey in Summer 2011, conducting fish, habitat, and stream flow assessments across Maryland. 

This extensive research background was further expanded, continuing under the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) infrastructure and matriculating into the MEES Master's program in Fall 2011, before successfully defending his thesis and transitioning into the doctoral track in Fall 2014.

Robert Sabo earned his doctoral degree in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES) in 2018, completing his graduate training with a 3.825 GPA. As a graduate student and highly prestigious EPA STAR Fellowship recipient, under the advisement of Dr. Keith N. Eshleman at the Appalachian Laboratory, his doctoral research culminated in his dissertation, "Shifting Inputs and Transformations of Nitrogen in Forested and Mixed Land Use Basins: Implications for Hydrologic Nitrate Loss."

Wild forested watersheds and public fresh-water resources are highly vulnerable to excess nitrogen loading, which impacts biodiversity and downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, historic clean-air legislation has successfully reduced human-caused nitrogen emissions over recent decades. Robert’s research tracked how forests and local waterways respond to these changing environmental inputs, focusing on whether a previously designated nitrogen-saturated forest could rapidly and directly recover when wet atmospheric deposition declines.  Based on the findings, the research provided a mathematical framework and calibrated a modified kinetic nitrogen saturation model to evaluate wide-scale improvements in stream water quality. This approach could provide policymakers, environmental managers, and scientists with a holistic strategy to link mountain watershed dynamics to coastal ecosystem health, aiding the management of fresh-water systems for a more sustainable future. Following his doctoral coursework—which included specialized classes in Remote Sensing, Hydrological Effects of Land Use Change, Isotope Biogeochemical Modeling, Landscape Ecology, Environmental Geochemistry, and Biometry—he completed his comprehensive examinations in August 2015 and proposal defense in March 2016. During his graduate career, he was also heavily involved in public outreach and state-level science application, compiling an extensive literature review database on best management practices (BMPs) that directly underpinned final reports for the Governor's Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Commission in Maryland. He additionally spearheaded a collaborative forest monitoring network through the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) to provide serious undergraduate research opportunities at non-tier I institutions.

Following graduation, Dr. Sabo entered a postdoctoral research placement from 2018 to 2019 as an ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow, providing advanced technical support for the EPA's nutrient tracking frameworks. This work led directly to his current role as a permanent federal Research Scientist and Project Lead within the EPA Office of Water, where he continues to apply his expertise to continental-scale national pollutant and environmental modeling. For more on Robert, please click here.

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MEES RESEARCH CENTER

restoring oyster reefs: genetics, hatchery success & cleaner chesapeake waters

garret wilcox (‘23, M.S.)

Garrett Wilcox (‘23, M.S.) is a MEES Master’s student (Ecological Systems Foundation) at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory. He joined the program in Fall 2023 and is co-advised by Dr. Elizabeth North and Dr. Louis Plough. His thesis focuses on genetic analysis of oyster restoration in the Manokin River (Maryland’s largest tributary-scale oyster sanctuary) in an effort to evaluate the success of hatchery-based restoration plantings.  

Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are powerful natural filter feeders that play a critical role in improving water quality. An adult oyster can filter tens of gallons of water per day under optimal conditions, removing excess algae, suspended sediments, nitrogen, and phosphorus. This filtration clarifies the water, allowing more sunlight to reach underwater grasses, reduces nutrient pollution that fuels harmful algal blooms, and helps support healthier aquatic ecosystems. Oyster reefs also create complex three-dimensional habitat for hundreds of species of fish, crabs, and invertebrates. His thesis focuses on genetic analysis of oyster restoration in the Manokin River (Maryland’s largest tributary-scale oyster sanctuary). In June 2024, disease-resistant oysters from a special Louisiana-bred line (called LOLA) were planted on a restored reef. Garrett’s project uses DNA testing—looking at thousands of genetic markers—to tell which oysters on the reef came from the hatchery and which are wild. By sampling the oysters at 6, 12, and 18 months after planting, he can measure how many of the hatchery oysters survive and remain over time. The method also helps lay the groundwork for tracking whether young oysters from the restored reef “spill over” into nearby areas.

Originally from Rutland, Vermont, Garrett earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Biostatistics from Castleton University (now Vermont State University) in 2023. Under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Vermilyea (Professor and Chair of the Environmental Science Program), he conducted a McNair summer research project in 2021 focused on sampling and analyzing phosphorus content in local water supplies, learning sample preparation, spectrophotometry, data compilation, and scientific writing that culminated in a journal-length paper presented at an undergraduate research symposium. He also worked closely with Dr. Cynthia Moulton (Professor of Biology and Ecological Studies Program Coordinator), taking her Ecology, Herpetology, and Tropical Biodiversity Research courses. Through Dr. Moulton’s Tropical Biodiversity course he traveled to Costa Rica for rainforest fieldwork and wildlife documentation. In summer 2022 he participated in an NSF REU at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, studying European honeybee hygienic behavior under Dr. Judy Wu-Smart.

Garrett arrived at Horn Point Laboratory in August 2023 and is on track to defend his thesis in MEES later this year.  Garrett’s long-term goal is to contribute to marine and estuarine science in ways that support oyster restoration, water quality improvement, and ecosystem resilience.  For more information on Garrett, please click here.  

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