- August 06, 2026
- By Kimbra Cutlip
The University of Maryland's Department of Environmental Science and Technology (ENST), in partnership with the Department of Geology, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (GEPS), is introducing a new minor this fall: Chesapeake Bay: watersheds and water resources.
It offers a formal way for students from all disciplines to gain literacy in the ecosystem, which shapes everything in Maryland from the seafood industry to real estate values to environmental policy debates in Annapolis. For students already headed into environmental careers, the minor provides an opportunity to specialize in the watershed they may choose to work in after graduation, while providing a strong foundation for estuarine work anywhere in the world.
“Our campus rests within the bay watershed, and more than 75% of our students come from homes within the watershed,” said Lance Yonkos, an associate professor in ENST and co-director of the program. “We as an academic community have some ownership of the resource, and some responsibility for its protection. Even students not pursuing careers related to the bay in particular, or estuaries and other water resources more generally, should have a basic understanding of our individual and collective influences on these systems.”
The Chesapeake Bay is a perfect microcosm for the larger issues surrounding the critical zone, that realm where the rocks of Earth's crust, its waters, soils, biosphere and atmosphere interact chemically and physically, said John Merck, principal lecturer in GEPS and co-director of the program. “The critical zone is of primary importance to human society. It informs decision-making for environmentalists, civil engineers, urban planners and a host of others, but the academic disciplines that study these components are distributed among departments in at least three colleges. The goal of the new minor is to bring these elements together in a coherent package that will pair appropriately with a wide range of majors.”
The program will rely heavily on Guilford Run and Campus Creek, both of which drain into the Paint Branch and the Anacostia River watershed, which flows into the Potomac River on the way to the Chesapeake Bay. These bodies of water will be used as a living classroom throughout various courses. Students will also spend time visiting and studying other parts of the watershed as well as the mainstem of the bay.
The minor requires 15 credits and five courses, including two core courses: "Ecosystem Health and Protection" (ENST333) and "Watershed and Wetland Hydrology" (GEOL452); students will choose three electives from a list that spans the sciences: oceanography of the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic, freshwater biology, wetland ecology, soil-water pollution, groundwater, geomorphology, environmental geochemistry and water management in urban environments, among others.