Ecosystem hydrologist Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm to lead UMD Center for Environmental Science

A renowned ecosystem hydrologist has been hired as president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, a dean and professor at George Mason University, will start July 1 and also serve as the university system’s vice chancellor for sustainability.

“It’s hard to top Dr. Miralles-Wilhelm’s career credentials, University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay A. Perman said in a news release. “His priorities and his plan for national and international environmental leadership are so well-matched to those we heard from UMCES faculty, staff, and students.”

Miralles-Wilhelm has more than 30 years of experience researching water resources and watersheds, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity, and conservation science around the world, according to the release, and has been a principal investigator on more than $300 million in research sponsored by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank.

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science comprises 12 institutions: Bowie State, Coppin State, Frostburg State, Salisbury and Towson universities as well as the Universities of Baltimore; Maryland, Baltimore; Maryland, Baltimore County; Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Maryland, College Park; Maryland Eastern Shore; and Maryland Global Campus.

Before joining George Mason, Miralles-Wilhelm served on the faculty at Northeastern University, the University of Miami, Florida International University, and the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was professor and chair of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and directed the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites.

Miralles-Wilhelm replaces Peter Goodwin, who retired last school year. UMCES Vice President Bill Dennison has served as interim president since September 2023.

Miralles-Wilhelm earned his Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

“I am thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to lead UMCES and the sustainability portfolio of the [University System of Maryland],” Miralles-Wilhelm said in the release. “The environmental challenges that we are facing as a society are pressing today more than ever, and UMCES and the USM are well positioned to tackle them through research, education, and service across the state, the country, and the world.”

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science operates the Appalachian Laboratory in the mountains of Western Maryland, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the mouth of the Patuxent River, the Horn Point Laboratory on the Eastern Shore, and the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, according to the news release.