MWMC's 31st Annual Conference:
Embracing Innovation to Protect and Restore Maryland's Waters

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

November 20, 2025
Maritime Conference Center
Linthicum, MD

The Maryland Water Monitoring Council is bringing innovation to the forefront! Join us on November 20, 2025 when we return to the Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum, MD for our 31st Annual Conference, ​ ​​Embracing Innovation to Protect and Restore Maryland’s Waters.

The conference will include a plenary session, several concurrent breakout sessions, posters, exhibitor tables, plenty of snacks and, of course, the famous Maritime Conference Center all-you-can-eat buffet lunch. You’ll also have plenty of time to network and catch up with old friends and colleagues during breaks.

A draft agenda is now available.

Concurrent sessions will include speakers covering such topics as the Microbial Source Tracking, Drone Surveys, Blue Carbon, eDNA, Groundwater, Utilities and PFAS, Stormwater Innovations, Indicators, Student Speed Talks, Restoration, Agricultural Salinization, Maryland Interagency Water Consortium, Effects of Solar Infrastructure, and more! Come join your friends and colleagues at another exciting in-person annual conference of the MWMC!

 

PLENARY SPEAKERS

We are pleased to welcome Jeremy Werdell, Project Scientist for NASA's PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) Satellite Mission, and Steve Thur, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and Acting NOAA Chief Scientist as our plenary speakers this year.

CARL WEBER AWARDS

We are now accepting nominations for the Carl Weber Award and the Above and Beyond Award. If you know someone who has had a long and distinguished career in protecting Maryland’s waters and advancing the knowledge and appreciation of our natural resources, they may be an excellent candidate for the Carl Weber Award. Is there someone new to the monitoring community who is already making waves? Nominate them for the Above and Beyond Award!

CALL FOR POSTER PRESENTERS

Interested in presenting your work at the conference? Abstracts for poster presentations may be submitted HERE. Submissions will be accepted through October 31.

The Conference Planning Committee will reach out to interested poster presenters should opportunities for talks arise.

STUDENT POSTER AWARD

Calling all students! Maryland Water Monitoring Council (MWMC) will once again host the popular student session in a lightning round format at this year’s conference and we look forward to having you join us! Intimidated by the idea of a full presentation? This is for you! Love talking fast? Sign up now! First time presenting your work? Here’s the best way to try it out!

Each student will be given the opportunity to present at lightning speed for 5 minutes - choose to talk super-fast or choose to share only critical highlights from your work – your call! The talks will be followed by a casual Q&A session with all the student presenters as panelists. Any type of water related projects, programs, research, or work are welcome to apply. Please consider joining us for this experience-builder.

This session may fill so please submit your abstract soon. Abstracts must be submitted by October 31.

Submit your abstract here.

Also consider submitting a poster here to be eligible to win a cash prize!

Student lightning talks are open to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. Poster contest is open to high school and undergrad students only (not graduate students).

Many thanks to KCI for providing the student prizes.

 

REGISTRATION

Conference registration is now open!

State employees should register by contacting [email protected] to arrange R*STARS payment.

Register before October 23 at 5 PM to get an early bird discount.

All registration ends on November 6 at 5 PM or when we reach capacity.

Walk-ins will not be accepted.

EXHIBITORS AND SPONSORS

Reserve an exhibit table for your organization and receive one admission included in the price. Your organization's logo will be included in conference materials. After reserving your table and checking out through the online store, please send a logo image (jpg or png) to [email protected].

Sponsorships are back this year! If you don't want to put together a display for an exhibit table but still want to support the conference and have your logo included in conference materials, this is the option for your organization! After completing the sponsorship form and checking out through the online store, please send a logo image (jpg or png) to [email protected].

Exhibitors and Sponsors may register through the registration form.

AFTER-CONFERENCE SOCIAL

Once again KCI Technologies is sponsoring the MWMC Social at Heavy Seas Brewery after the annual conference. More details will be posted soon.

Not on our mailing list? Email [email protected] and let us know you're interested!

Check out our Facebook page for updates on the Council and the Annual Conference.

Information about the Maritime Institute, including directions, classrooms, and parking lot map.

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MWMC's 30th Annual Conference
MWMC @ 30: Celebrating Successes and Tackling Emerging Challenges​

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AGENDA with links to presentations and FULL PROGRAM​ available

November 21, 2024
Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum

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The Maryland Water Monitoring Council held its 30th Annual Conference at the Maritime Conference Center, North Linthicum, Maryland, on Thursday, November 21, 2024. The theme of the one-day conference was MWMC @ 30: Celebrating Successes and Tackling Emerging Challenges. The conference included a plenary session, six concurrent breakout sessions, posters, exhibitor tables, plenty of snacks and, of course, the famous Maritime Institute all-you-can-eat buffet lunch.

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AFTER-CONFERENCE SOCIAL

Many thanks to KCI Technologies, sponsor of the after-conference social.

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PLENARY SPEAKERS

We were pleased to welcome Rich Batiuk (Associate Director for Science, Analysis, and Implementation at the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program Office, retired; CoastWise Partners) and Bob Shedlock (Scientist Emeritus at US Geological Survey, Emeritus Director of USGS MDDE-DC Water Science Center) as our plenary speakers this year. In Rich Batiuk's 33 years with EPA and the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership, he led the integration of science into multi-partner policy-making and collaborative decision-making. Bob Shedlock was one of the original board members of MWMC. He is a Scientist Emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, starting as a hydrologist in 1976 in the National Center in Reston, Virginia, and retiring as Director of the USGS Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center in 2015. He has worked on interagency collaborations such as the Maryland Water Monitoring Council, the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, the Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition, and the Baltimore Urban Waters Partnership, for which he currently coordinates a team exploring urban flooding.​​

CARL WEBER AWARDS

The “traditional” Carl Weber Award is typically given to someone with a lengthy career in the field of water management, monitoring or policy. Many recipients have held jobs in public agencies or non-profit organizations focused on the protection and restoration of Maryland’s waters. They have also volunteered their time and energy towards increasing watershed awareness, advocacy and stewardship.

The Above & Beyond Award allows the MWMC to recognize someone who represents the next generation of Maryland’s water monitors and the future of the MWMC. In recognition of the contributions of an up-and-coming member of the Maryland’s environmental community, the Above & Beyond Award is presented to a member who has volunteered time and energy towards the monitoring of Maryland’s waters and has made a significant contribution to increasing watershed awareness, advocacy, education and stewardship.

STUDENT POSTER AWARD​

Congratulations to our student poster contest winners! First place went to Austin Kaplan (Hood College) for "The Impact of Rainbow Darters on the Microhabitat Use of Other Darters," second place went to Clara McKnight (River Hill High School) for "Biomimicry Techniques in the Chesapeake Bay - Maryland Region," and third place went to Alexander Koo and Amy King (Mount St. Mary's University) for "Influence of Iron and Potassium on the Growth of Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena variabilis at Different Temperatures.

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Check out our Facebook page for updates on the Council and the Annual Conference.

Information about the Maritime Institute, including directions, classrooms, and parking lot map.

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MWMC's 29th Annual Conference: Stepping Up Our Efforts - Now Is The Time​

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November 17, 2023

​7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum​

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Conference Agenda with Linked Presentations
and
​Full Program​

This year the Maryland Stream Restoration Association (MSRA) supported ​the Maryland Water Monitoring Council (MWMC) to put on the 2023 annual conference. The conference included a plenary session, several concurrent breakout sessions, posters, exhibitor tables, plenty of snacks, the famous Maritime Institute all-you-can-eat buffet lunch, and plenty of time to network and catch up with old friends and colleagues during breaks​.

This past year has heralded a number of new opportunities for the water monitoring community. With current initiatives like Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, Chesapeake Bay 2025 pollution reduction targets, FEMA’s Climate Resiliency Grants, 5 Million Trees for Maryland, 30% by 2030 to conse​rve terrestrial and marine habitat globally, to name a few, this is a time of intensifying efforts, new technologies, and innovations that make collecting and using monitoring data more efficient, so that we may address big issues.

​That is the theme of this year's 29th Annual MWMC Conference: Stepping Up Our Efforts - Now Is The Time.

Concurrent sessions included speakers covering such topics as the Protection of High Quality Waters and Watersheds, PCBs, Ephemeral Streams, eDNA, Groundwater, Megafauna, Thermal Impacts, Stormwater, Reintroduction Projects, Waterkeeper Litigation Case Studies, PFAS, Student Speed Talks, Harmful Algal Blooms, and more.​

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AWARDS

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Carl Weber Awards:​ The MWMC would like to congratulate Scott Phillips (USGS, retired) as recipient of the 2023 Carl Weber Award, and Susan Simonson (Antietam Conococheague Watershed Alliance) as recipient of the Above and Beyond Award.

Student Poster Award: Congratulations to Garrett Tucker (McDaniel College), Olivia Sunde (McDaniel College), and Zoe Jarvis (University of Maryland; Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary), winners of the MWMC Student Poster Contest.

Check out our Facebook page for updates on the Council and the Annual Conference.

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The MWMC would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to the Maryland Stream Restoration Association (MSRA) who played a huge part in making this year’s conference possible! Cheers to MSRA!

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MWMC's 28th Annual Conference:​ ​
What Are You Drinking? Protecting the Source

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​​​​​​December 15, 2022​​

​The Maryland Water Monitoring Council held its 28th Annual Conference at the Maritime Conference Center in North Linthicum, Maryland, on Thursday, December 15, 2022.​ The theme was What Are You Drinking? Protecting the Source.

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The conference drew about 350 registrants and included five concurrent sessions with 45 talks, 23 posters, 12 vendors and 4 special exhibit tables. Also included were the 16th Annual Carl S. Weber Awards, the 11th Annual Student Poster Award and a Student-Professional Networking Session. A conference agenda with linked presentations can be found ​​HERE and a full conference program with abstracts and presenter contact information can be found HERE​​.​

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MWMC's 27th Annual Conference:
Environmental Justice in a Time of Climate Change
​December 2 - 3, 2021

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The MWMC held its 27th Annual Conference, Environmental Justice in a Time of Climate Change, on December 2-3, 2021. This virtual conference explored themes relating to a more equitable application of strategies across communities to address the shift to a new climactic normal and the environmental problems faced disproportionately by residents of disadvantaged areas.

An address by Dr. Sacoby Wilson, director of the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health in the University of Maryland School of Public Health and appointee to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, was featured at the plenary session.

Concurrent session topics included Environmental Justice and Equity, Stream Restoration, Saltwater Intrusion, Managing PFAS and Other Contaminants, Maryland's Least Wanted, Climate Change: Tech and Digital Tools, and more. See the conference agenda​ for additional sessions, presentation information, and a schedule of events, as well as slides from select presentations.

See the presenters' abstracts and more in the conference program.

• Conference program
• Conference agenda

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MWMC 26th Annual Conference - December 3-4, 2020

The Maryland Water Monitoring Council held its 26th Annual Conference virtually on Thursday and Friday, December 3-4, 2020. The plenary session began at 9:00 AM and the conference adjourned at 12:00 PM each day. In addition to the plenary session, the conference included several concurrent breakout sessions, posters, and exhibitor connections.

In an examination of the world in which we currently live, one can’t help but see how interconnected the health of the environment is with the lives and health of the people living in its midst. Our 2020 theme, Clean Waters, Healthy Humans: The Environment Rx, is an exploration of that link. Concurrent sessions included Recent Advances in Stream Restoration Monitoring (Parts 1 and 2), Clean Waters, Healthy Humans, Nutrient Management in Saline Environments, Water Quality, Meeting the Goals of the Chesapeake Bay WIPs through Innovation and Hard Work!, PFAS (Per- and poly-Fluorinated Alkyl Substances): News on an Emerging Contaminant, and Data in the Time of COVID: There’s an App for That!

The morning plenary session on December 3rd featured a presentation by Dr. Rita Colwell, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University and former director of the National Science Foundation, followed by a presentation from Congressman John Sarbanes, co-chair of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Caucus and author of the No Child Left Inside Act.

Many thanks to our presenters and sponsors for their parts in making the virtual conference a success!