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Past Leadership
Previous ESSIC Directors
Ellen D. Williams (Appointment Term: 2020 - 2023)
Professor Ellen Williams received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Michigan State University in 1976 and her Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1981. Williams came to UMD in 1981 for a postdoctoral fellowship and rose to the rank of professor by 1991. At Maryland, she established an internationally recognized research program in experimental surface science, exploring fundamental issues in statistical mechanics and nanotechnology. She also pioneered the use of powerful scanning tunneling microscopy to study the surface of materials such as silicon at the atomic level. In 1996, Williams founded the University of Maryland Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, serving as its director until 2009. Williams served as the chief scientist for British Petroleum (BP) from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
In January 2017, Williams returned to UMD and was anointed as a Distinguished University Professor. She took on the role of ESSIC Director in 2020 and retired from the position in 2023.
Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm (Appointment Term: 2016 - 2020)
Miralles-Wilhelm began serving as the executive director of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS) in 2013, and took on the role as interim director of Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) in 2016. In 2018, he became the chair of UMD’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science (AOSC). During his tenure, Miralles-Wilhelm led efforts to secure a five-year, $64.8 million cooperative agreement with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for ESSIC as well as a a five-year, $93 million cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for CICS. He served as principal investigator for both programs until leaving UMD in 2020 to become the Dean of Science at George Mason University.
In 2024, he was named President of University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES).
Antonio J. Busalacchi (Appointment Term: 2000 - 2016)
Busalacchi joined UMD in 2000, leaving his previous position of leading the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center (1991–2000) and the laboratory’s Oceans and Ice Branch (1988-1990). Busalacchi was the founding director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC). He oversaw the Center’s growth from a tiny nucleus to one of the largest research centers on UMD’s College Park campus. He also served as Chair for the university’s Council on the Environment and as a professor in UMD’s department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.
As ESSIC Director, Busalacchi’s leadership style provided more than scientific and institutional direction. His vast wine expertise, his extensive connections across the national and international scientific community, and his skill at devising ways to enhance the social connectivity within ESSIC– from the annual Oktoberfest to the weekly seminar series–made the Center a better and more productive place. He left UMD in 2016 to become the President of University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
Other Notable Leadership
Phil Arkin
Former Executive Director of CICS (2007- 2014)
Former ESSIC Deputy Director (2002- 2021)
Arkin joined ESSIC in 2002 after retiring from NOAA, where he did research on the global water cycle and managed both people and research programs. At ESSIC, his proudest accomplishment was to help ESSIC grow its modest beginnings to become one of the largest and most accomplished interdisciplinary Earth System Science research organizations in the world.
Arkin retains a position at ESSIC as Research Scientist Emeritus.
