This year has been one of great change for Maryland Sea Grant. Perhaps the most important change has been the development and implementation of a new administrative, advisory and oversight structure for the program. As of July 1, Maryland Sea Grant receives guidance from the USM Chancellor, the Provost of the College Park Campus and the President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). Furthermore, UMCES becomes the responsible institution for program, replacing the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute as its administrator.

This new structure, which enjoys the strong support of the USM and the National Sea Grant College Program, provides a clear mechanism for academic and research institutions within the University System and throughout the state to provide guidance to Maryland Sea Grant. Industry, state and federal agencies and other important stakeholder groups are represented as well. We will be providing more details of these advisory bodies to readers of Marine Notes over the coming months.

UMCES, led by President Donald Boesch, is a world leader in the study of coastal and environmental sciences. It is the University System of Maryland (USM) institution with the primary mission of research, education and public service related to the environment and nonagricultural natural resources. UMCES has a statutory mandate to "assist the development and coordination of single or multidisciplinary programs and projects on the environment at public and private educational research institutes" and serves as the liaison for the USM with state agencies responsible for marine resource management and environmental protection.

Maryland Sea Grant is now part of a campus composed of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge and Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg. The collective reach of research efforts extends from the air and watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay to estuarine, marine and terrestrial environments worldwide. For more information on UMCES, visit the UMCES website at www.umces.edu.

Maryland Sea Grant will remain on the University of Maryland, College Park campus - a location well suited to our system- and state-wide role. All new grants and contracts, including our omnibus award from NOAA, will now be administered by UMCES as well as our overall financial and personnel operations.

The transition to UMCES enables Maryland Sea Grant to better coordinate our efforts with those of the USM, other institutions statewide as well as with state and federal agencies. It is a terrific opportunity and one that will help guide the evolution of this program. All of us at Maryland Sea Grant wish to express our appreciation to the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute for its many years of fine support. We look forward to a long and productive relationship within our new administrative home.

Jonathan Kramer
Interim Director
Maryland Sea Grant College

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