{"id":1347,"date":"2021-07-26T08:59:40","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/?page_id=1347"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:57:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:57:39","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Us<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/57\/2021\/07\/coastalecologycenterpic2-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Paul S. Sarbanes Coastal Ecology Center is just across beautiful Sinepuxent Bay from Assateague Island in Berlin, Maryland.\" class=\"wp-image-1353\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PSSCEC is preparing and enabling scientific leaders and problem solvers to protect, restore, and sustain Maryland\u2019s diverse coastal ecosystems.&nbsp; We are located adjacent to the Sinepuxent Bay, near the Assateague Island National Seashore Visitor Center. The 27-mile Assateague Island barrier island system is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by the Sinepuxent and Chincoteague bays, hosting an array of coastal and underwater habitats that harbor vast biodiversity. The undeveloped character of Assateague Island and its close proximity to tourist destination Ocean City, Maryland, provides a unique opportunity to examine a myriad of ecological and biogeochemical questions on the effects of human activities. This facility serves as a field laboratory for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/sciences\/marine-estuarine-and-environmental-science-s-mees-m-s-and-ph-d\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UMES\u2019 Graduate Program in Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Science<\/a>, as well as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/lmrcsc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center<\/a>, and various other USDA funded programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In the News<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/audio\/play\/p0n458y6\">People Fixing The World: Super Seagrass<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seagrass meadows are one of the world\u2019s most valuable underwater habitats. A University of Maryland Eastern Shore team led by Dr. Stephen Tomasetti, director of the Paul S. Sarbanes Coastal Ecology Center, took BBC reporter Ben Wyatt out into Sinepuxent Bay to see how UMES scientists are looking at a technique called \u201cassisted gene flow\u201d to help seagrass adapt and survive in warming waters. The segment was featured in the BBC podcast titled \u201cPeople Fixing The World: Super Seagrass.\u201d The UMES team included Dr. Tomasetti, Ph.D. student Katie Tanner and Captain Chris Daniels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/missionblue.org\/2025\/06\/chesapeake-bay-recognized-as-a-hope-spot-for-nature-history-and-community\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/missionblue.org\/2025\/06\/chesapeake-bay-recognized-as-a-hope-spot-for-nature-history-and-community\/\">Chesapeake Bay Recognized as a Hope Spot for Nature, History, and Community<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About Us The PSSCEC is preparing and enabling scientific leaders and problem solvers to protect, restore, and sustain Maryland\u2019s diverse coastal ecosystems.&nbsp; We are located adjacent to the Sinepuxent Bay, near the Assateague Island National Seashore Visitor Center. The 27-mile Assateague Island barrier island system is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and&#8230;<span class=\"cpschool-read-more-link-holder\"><a class=\"btn btn-basic cpschool-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/about-us\/\">Read more <span class=\"sr-only\">About Us<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-1347","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umes.edu\/psscec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}