Dr. Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, former director of Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), has been appointed the next president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES).
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.
“I am thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to lead UMCES and the sustainability portfolio of the USM,” Miralles-Wilhelm said in the press 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.”
To read the press release, click here.
