08/31/2026
Celebrating Dr. Margaret Mulholland's Leadership in Chesapeake Bay Science 🌊🔬
Dr. Margaret Mulholland, Professor at Old Dominion University and lead investigator of the NOAA-funded MERHAB project, is helping drive a groundbreaking regional effort to monitor, forecast, and respond to harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Chesapeake Bay. Through collaboration among universities, NOAA, MARACOOS, and state agencies, her team is advancing innovative monitoring technologies and data-sharing tools that provide earlier warnings and better protection for coastal communities, fisheries, and marine ecosystems.
The recent harmful algal bloom in the lower Chesapeake Bay demonstrated the power of this regional network, bringing together satellite imagery, water sampling, forecasting models, and real-time observations to track bloom development and support public health and environmental decision-making. Under Dr. Mulholland's leadership, this work is laying the foundation for a bay-wide monitoring and forecasting system that will strengthen resilience across the Chesapeake region.
👏 Thank you, Dr. Mulholland, for your commitment to advancing coastal science, protecting our waterways, and fostering collaboration that benefits communities throughout the Chesapeake Bay.
See the article here! https://maracoos.org/news/mobilizing-a-regional-hab-network-for-the-chesapeake-bay/
Photo credit Dr. Donglai Gong, VIMS
