Research Center Website
Anson H. Hines, Director
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) provides science-based knowledge to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century. SERC leads research on coastal ecosystems to inform real-world decisions for wise policies, best business practices, and a sustainable planet.
SERC research is urgent. The world’s coastal zones are home to more than 70 percent of the global population and experience intense economic activity. The rate of environmental change is accelerating at an alarming rate. Since its creation in 1965, SERC has been working to understand and communicate the causes and consequences of rapid change in the Chesapeake Bay and around the world through critical research, professional training for early-career scientists, and environmental education.
With a diverse and growing interdisciplinary team of more than 180 researchers, technicians, and students, SERC conducts long-term descriptive and experimental research addressing such issues as global change, the effects of nutrients and chemicals passing through our landscapes, maintenance of productive fisheries, changes to our environment from biological invaders, and protection of fragile wetlands and woodlands.
Headquartered on the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, SERC sits just 25 miles from the nation’s capital. Its 2,650-acre campus spans forests, wetlands, marshes, and 15 miles of protected shoreline along the Rhode River. The site serves as a natural laboratory for long-term and cutting-edge ecological research. SERC research also extends globally with ecologists working in places such as Alaska, Florida, Belize, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, and the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica.
Interns, fellows, visiting scientists, and research associates from around the world are important members of the SERC community. SERC is dedicated to fostering the development of the next generation of environmental scientists and scientifically minded thinkers through active academic and professional learning programs.
Facilities and Research
SERC offers a variety of research facilities. The central Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory building is a 92,000 square foot LEED-Platinum facility with on-site solar energy production, geothermal heating and cooling, a water reclamation system, and stormwater management wetlands. The building houses a field prep and storage area, wet and dry sample storage, chemical sample prep area, shop area, and environmental control rooms.
There is also a GIS Laboratory with access to a broad range of capabilities in ecological modeling and spatial analysis, a wetlab with flowing water systems and dock access, a 120 ft meteorological tower, a fleet of research vessels of various sizes, and a SERC library that also provides access to the vast Smithsonian library system.
SERC is uniquely poised to study ecological processes at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. The Global Change Research Wetland (GCREW) is a National Science Foundation-Long Term Research in Environmental Biology facility dedicated to unraveling the complex ecological processes that confer stability on coastal marshes as they respond to global environmental change. The oldest of these climate studies began in 1987 and is the world’s longest operating global change experiment.
Terrestrial research is supported by vast landscape-scale forest plots including BiodiversiTREE. Over ~60 acres, this experiment manipulates tree species and functional diversity along natural gradients to investigate forest response to climate change from the molecular to the watershed level - a project that will last for more than 100 years. SERC is also part of ForestGEO, a global network tracking how more than 70 forests on six continents are responding to climate change and other factors.
SERC’s Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO) is a unique network of partners around the world dedicated to tracking the vital signs of coastal marine life, diagnosing the causes of change, and informing science-based solutions to build coastal resilience. SERC is also the headquarters for the National Ballast Water Clearinghouse and a leader in the field of invasive species research. SERC houses the world’s longest data record on the increase in ultraviolet (UVB) solar radiation impacting the earth, as well as the Ecological Genomics Core which is part of a network of genomics research around the world.
In addition to SERC’s primary campus on the Chesapeake Bay, the Romberg Tiburon Campus on San Francisco Bay is a branch of the Marine Invasions Laboratory that identifies and tracks non-native species along the Pacific Coast.
Visit the SERC website for more information about additional laboratories and research projects.
Education and Public Programs
SERC’s Public Engagement program provides opportunities for volunteers, educators, students, and community organizations to engage with SERC research, inspiring them to be responsible stewards of the earth.
A variety of hands-on science experiences and environmental field trips are available for school groups, giving students a chance to test water quality, explore oyster bars, and seine for fish and crabs in the river. Teacher workshops offer scientific training, continuing education, and environmental curricula. SERC’s education department also offers programs for the general public, including an evening lecture series, guided canoe expeditions, and docent-led tours. For drop-in visitors, the SERC campus is open for hiking, biking, and kayaking six days per week.
SERC also coordinates an active Participatory Science program, with more than 3,000 volunteers helping do research for on-site, off-site, and digital projects from environmental archaeology to marine biology.
A variety of hands-on science experiences and environmental field trips are available for school groups, while teachers can take advantage of SERC's professional development programs. Adults can learn directly from scientists at SERC's free monthly evening lecture series, or go even deeper by working alongside the ecologists as volunteer scientists. The campus is open for drop-in visitors, school groups, and volunteer scientists to learn about the natural world and join in ecological research.
SERC’s Public Engagement program provides opportunities for volunteers, educators, students, and community organizations to engage with SERC research. SERC engages thousands of volunteers each year through its participatory science programs, hosts field trip programs for K-12 students, develops workshops and training opportunities for educators, and engages directly with communities to help apply SERC expertise to solve local problems.
Research Staff
Canty, Steven, Marine Biologist. B.S. (2001) Swansea University; M.S. (2007) Lund University; Ph.D. (2021) Manchester Metropolitan University. Research specialties: Marine ecology, management of marine ecosystems, evidence-based management decision making, blue carbon. Contact: CantyS@si.edu
Cawood Alison, Director of Public Engagement. B.S. (2005) College of Charleston; Ph.D. (2012) Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Research specialties: participatory sciences, public engagement in science. Contact: CawoodA@si.edu
Chang, Andrew L., Ecologist. B.A. (2000) Williams College; Ph.D. (2009) . Research specialties: Biodiversity, ecology, estuarine ecology, global change, invasive species, marine ecology, marine invertebrates, oysters. Contact:
Duffy, J. Emmett, Senior Scientist. B.S. (1981) Spring Hill College; M.S. (1983) University of Maine; Ph.D. (1989) University of North Carolina. Research specialties: Marine ecology and natural history; biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Contact: DuffyE@si.edu
Freestone, Amy, Supervisory Biologist. Ph.D., University of California, Davis. Research specialties: Community ecology, macroecology, invasion ecology, biodiversity, marine invasive species. Contact: FreestoneA@si.edu
Hale, Rebecca, Ecosystem ecologist. B.A. (2005) Hampshire College; PhD (2013) Arizona State University. Research specialties: stream ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, urban ecosystems, social-ecological systems. Contact: haler@si.edu
Holmquist, James, Ecologist. B.A. Loyola Marymount University; Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles. Research specialties: wetlands and climate change issues at the ecosystem scale and continental scale, carbon storage rates in coastal wetlands using dated sediment cores, data-model integration to develop spatial maps relevant to greenhouse gases and resilience of coastal wetland in the face of projected sea-level rise. Contact: HolmquistJ@si.edu
Lohan, Katrina, Ecologist. B.S. (2004) Southampton College of Long Island University; M.S. (2006) American University; Ph.D. (2011) The College of William & Mary. Research specialties: marine disease ecology; biogeography, biology, and ecology of marine parasites; ecological role of alternate hosts in marine disease systems; anthropogenic dispersal of marine parasites; molecular analysis of protistan and zooplankton communities. Contact: LohanK@si.edu
McCormick, Melissa, Ecologist. B.S. (1992) Trinity University; Ph.D. (1999) Michigan State University. Research specialties: mycorrhizae, plant-fungus interactions, orchid-fungus interactions, molecular analysis of soil fungal communities. Contact: McCormickM@si.edu
Megonigal, J. Patrick, Deputy Director, Biogeochemist. B.S. (1982), M.S. (1986) Old Dominion University; Ph.D.(1996) Duke University. Research specialties: Coastal wetland and coastal forest responses to climate change, carbon sequestration and methane emissions, blue carbon science. Contact: MegonigalP@si.edu
McMahon, Sean, Forest Ecologist. B.A. (1992) University of Texas Austin; M.A. (1993) University College of Dublin; M.S. (2006), Ph.D. (2006) University of Tennessee Knoxville. Research specialties: forest ecology, global change, community ecology of forest trees. Contact: McMahonS@si.edu
Miller, Whitman A., Ecologist. B.A. (1984) Earlham College; M.A. (1995), D. Env. (2000) University of California, Los Angeles. Research specialties: invasive marine species, ocean acidification, marine invertebrate ecology. Contact: MillerW@si.edu
Neale, Patrick J., Photobiologist. B.A. (1976) State University of New York, Purchase; M.A. (1981) Columbia University; Ph.D. (1985) University of California, Davis. Research specialties: Effects of UV radiation on phytoplankton and other aquatic organisms, chlorophyll fluorescence as an indicator of plant biomass and photosynthetic rates, spectral measurement of solar UVB, UV in the aquatic environment. Contact: NealP@si.edu
Nowakowski, Justin A., Integrative Spatial Ecologist. B.A. (2006) University of Georgia; Ph.D. (2014) Florida International University. Research specialties: Biodiversity responses to climate change and land use, thermal ecology of vertebrates and landscapes, trait-mediated responses, landscape connectivity, conservation evidence. Contact: NowakowskiA@si.edu
Noyce, Genevieve, Ecologist. B.A. (2009) Mount Holyoke College; M.S. (2011) University of New Hampshire; M.S. (2012) King’s College, London; Ph.D. (2016) University of Toronto. Research specialties: Biogeochemistry, wetland ecology, microbial ecology, and ecosystem responses to global change. NoyceG@si.edu
Ogburn, Matthew B., Ecologist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. B.S. (2001) Duke University; M.S. (2004) University of Georgia; Ph.D. (2008) Duke University Marine Laboratory. Research specialties: Marine and estuarine ecology, animal behavior and migrations, fisheries, conservation. Contact: OgburnM@si.edu
Parker, John D., Animal-Plant Ecologist. B.S. (1993) University of Virginia; M.S. (1998) College of William & Mary/VIMS; Ph.D. (2005) Georgia Institute of Technology. Research specialties: Community ecology, consumer-prey interactions, and invasive species. Contact: ParkerJ@si.edu
Rich, Roy, Research Ecologist. B.A (1996) Grinnell College; Ph.D. (2005) University of Minnesota. Research specialties: Forest ecology, technology in ecology, sensor design, climate change, disturbance ecology. Contact: RichR@si.edu
Ruiz, Gregory M., Marine Ecologist. B.A. (1980) University of California, Santa Barbara; Ph.D. (1987) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Population and community ecology of marine and estuarine ecosystems, animal behavior, larval recruitment of marine invertebrates, ecological parasitology, life history evolution, predator-prey interactions, invasion biology and transfer. Contact: RuizG@si.edu
Thiel, Martin, MarineGEO Managing Director. Research specialties: MarineGEO, ecology, marine ecology, marine invertebrates. Contact: ThielM@si.edu