Dr. Bill Dennison Joins Trash Free Maryland Board

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Bill Dennison to our Board. Bill is one of Maryland's treasures -- a biologist specializing in marine science by training, professor, author, and a catalyst for all things marine science. Bill has studied in Alaska, led a Bay restoration effort in Australia and thankfully landed for the second time in Maryland where he has been a leader in the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort for many years. As Vice President of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, he works across the State, conducting research at the Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, working with a coalition to address environmental justice issues and teaching students in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Science program of the University System of Maryland.

I called Bill, realizing he is one very busy person, to ask him about his interest in joining Trash Free Maryland and, within seconds, knew that he and the organization were a match. His enthusiasm, energy and passion for the need to decrease pollution of our waterways was palpable over the phone. No surprise as he is an enthusiastic guy.

He was bubbling with ideas about getting a handle on the largest pieces of pollution -- litter. Thanks to the enormous effort by all Marylanders, we continue to decrease pollution particles so small they aren't visible to the naked eye, yet our communities and waterways are still challenged by litter.

One of Bill's many talents is his ability to always connect and explain incredibly complex science to policy makers and program implementers in a completely easy to understand way. This is a valuable gift indeed. Bill is already on the Trash Free Maryland job, helping us to develop a data collection matrix.

This is a good thing for Bill as his daughter, a recent environmental science graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland, has been asking him about what he is doing about plastic litter in the marine environment. Bill - we hope your work with Trash Free Maryland gives you the answer you need. We are also very grateful to you for answering our call!

Shari Wilson
Chair, Trash Free Maryland Board of Directors