Timothy Canty Named Director of University System of Maryland’s Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Graduate Program
Canty will succeed Kennedy Paynter to lead one of the largest environmental graduate programs in the USM
Timothy Canty began his role as director of the University System of Maryland’s interdisciplinary Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) Graduate Program on August 1, 2019. Canty is an associate research professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science (AOSC) at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP).
The MEES program is one of the largest environmental graduate programs in the University System of Maryland with more than 180 students. Headquartered on the UMCP campus, MEES is offered jointly with the University of Maryland, Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES).
Founded in 1978, the MEES program confers master’s and doctoral degrees in the environmental sciences with a focus on one of four interdisciplinary foundational areas: environment and society; Earth and ocean sciences; ecological systems; and environmental molecular science and technology. The MEES program has conferred more than 1,000 graduate degrees over the past four decades.
“What interests me most about this position is that it affords a unique set of challenges coordinating the MEES program with other universities and research institutions within the University System of Maryland,” Canty said. “One of my goals is to create stronger connections with the wealth of federal labs in our area. I've made a lot of these connections through my work with the undergraduate program in AOSC and I hope to build upon these relationships.”
Canty’s research focuses on stratospheric ozone, climate change, and air quality science and policy. He uses observations from satellites, balloons, aircraft and ground-based instruments, combined with various physical and chemical modeling platforms, to improve our understanding of Earth’s atmospheric composition. Since 2010, he has provided air quality modeling support and multiplatform data analysis to the Maryland Department of the Environment and other member states of the Ozone Transport Commission.
Canty joined UMCP in 2007 as a research scientist. He helped to launch AOSC’s undergraduate program and has served as its director since 2013. He also oversees the mandatory research component of the AOSC undergraduate program and serves as director for the department’s Master of Professional Studies program.
A co-author of more than 40 peer-reviewed research publications, Canty is a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Hartwick College in New York and his master’s degree and Ph.D., both in physics, from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
MEES’ 100 faculty members hail from the system institutions and UMCES laboratories including Horn Point Laboratory, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Appalachian Laboratory, and the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET). Scientists from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other federal research agencies also mentor students in the program.
Canty succeeds Kennedy Paynter, an associate research professor in UMD’s Department of Biology, who served as MEES director since 1997.
“The success of the MEES program under Ken Paynter’s leadership speaks for itself through its many graduates who have gone on to successful careers in the environmental sciences and other fields,” said Amitabh Varshney, dean of UMD’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. “We look forward to many years of transformative successes from MEES students and faculty under Tim’s leadership.”
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Media Relations Contact: Matthew Wright, 301-405-9267, mewright@umd.edu
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About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 9,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $175 million.
