Meet our Wetland Champions
Below are several experts in wetland science that are scattered all over the Mid-Atlantic region. Read their bios, or get in touch with them!
Also, tell us if you wish to nominate someone or yourself to be one of our wetland champions!
Also, tell us if you wish to nominate someone or yourself to be one of our wetland champions!
Andy Baldwin
- Positions: Associate Professor of Wetland Ecology at University of Maryland, Faculty Advisor of SWS-MAC Student Group, Past President of SWS
- Story: I was pretty good at math and science in high school and so for college I was encouraged to major in engineering. I started at Tufts University in the civil and environmental engineering program, but also took some biology classes, and wound up doing a double degree in engineering and biology. After graduating in 1983, I worked in the environmental consulting field for about 8 years as my “day gig” and played in Boston area original rock bands by night. When the music didn’t pan out, I pursued my other love: plants. I had worked in wetlands a fair bit in consulting (ecological risk assessments, delineations) and pursued my Ph.D. in wetland plant ecology at Louisiana State University, looking at sea level rise and disturbance interactions in coastal wetland plant communities (Irv Mendelssohn was my mentor). I was planning on a government research position, but at the time graduation approached there was a federal hiring freeze, so I looked for post-docs and faculty positions. Unexpectedly, my undergraduate engineering degree helped me secure a tenure-track faculty position at University of Maryland in what was then the Department of Biological Resources Engineering. The position announcement said they were looking for a wetland ecologist with an engineering degree because of the ecological engineering interests of the faculty. My background was a good fit for this position and I was selected to interview and did my best to impressed the faculty, staff, and students with my seminar and enthusiasm. I continue to enjoy my research and teaching activities in wetland ecology and restoration and feel very fortunate to be working at the University of Maryland in the dynamic and multidisciplinary Department of Environmental Science and Technology. Along the way I became involved in SWS (first in the Mid-Atlantic chapter, then the awards committee, and ultimately President of the society). Participating in the society made the meetings more meaningful and led to lasting friendships with other SWS members.
- Contact: [email protected]
Doug Wilcox
- Positions: Empire Innovation Professor of Wetland Science at SUNY- The College at Brockport
- Story: Dr. Douglas A. Wilcox is the Empire Innovation Professor of Wetland Science in the Department of Environmental Science and Biology at SUNY--The College at Brockport. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in biochemistry at SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry and his Ph.D. in aquatic ecology at Purdue University. After a long career in the federal government, he retired from the U.S. Geological Survey in 2008 to accept this new position at Brockport in his native western New York State. He had also recently retired from his role as Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Wetlands after a 20-year tenure. Dr. Wilcox received the Society of Wetland Scientists Presidential Service Award and was one of three initial inductees as an SWS Fellow, the highest honor awarded by the organization. His research on wetlands has spanned the Great Lakes basin and focused primarily on interactions of wetland plant communities and hydrology, including the role of climate change and the effects of lake-level regulation. He was a major contributor in the International Joint Commission study on regulation of Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River levels and flows. His current and future research plans involve graduate and undergraduate students in developing wetland restoration methodologies for use in Lake Ontario wetlands. He is also the Lake Ontario/eastern Lake Erie lead on a large study funded by the USEPA that initiated a wetland monitoring program for all Great Lakes wetlands. He enjoys teaching Wetland Ecology, Northern Wetlands, Restoration Ecology, and a Graduate Research Seminar on Scientific Technical Writing. A major objective in his second career is to help train the next generation of wetland scientists. To do this, he shows his passion for the field in lectures, lab field trips and oversight of research projects. He also acquires funding for as many as a dozen students to work on wetland projects during the summer.
- Contact: [email protected]