Chigbu, Paulinus
Paulinus Chigbu
Dr. Paulinus Chigbu is a marine and environmental science professor at the University of Maryland- Eastern Shore (UMES). He directs UMES’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center. His research interests include fisheries ecology, climactic influences on water quality and biota, trophic dynamics in marine and freshwater environments, and zooplankton ecology. In addition to a Fulbright scholarship, Chigbu has received an Excellence Fellowship from the University of Washington School of Fisheries, a Research Innovation Award from Jackson State University, and served as Chair of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Division.
“You have to be motivated and looking for opportunities. Look for mentors to help you reach your goals. - Paulinus Chigbu, 2006.
Adebola, T., Hart, D. & Chigbu, P. 2022. Bathymetric trends in the body size, and diet of Astropecten americanus in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Estuarine,Coastal and Shelf Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.107814.
Morales-Nunez, A. & Chigbu, P. 2021. Carinacuma umesi, a new cumacean genus and species (Crustacea: Peracarida: Bodotriidae) from shallow-waters of Maryland Coastal Bays, USA, Mid-Atlantic region. PeerJ. DOI 10.7717/peerj.11740.
Elfadul, R.*, Jesien, R., Elnabawi, A., Chigbu, P. & Ishaque, A. 2021. Analysis of Estrogenic Activity in Maryland Coastal Bays using the MCF-7 Cell Proliferation Assay. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(12): 6254. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126254.
Da Silva, L.V., Ossai, S., Chigbu, P. & Parveen, S. 2021. Antimicrobial and genetic profiles of Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from Maryland Coastal Bays. Frontiers in Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.676249.
Edje, B.* & Chigbu, P. 2021. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of copepods in a tidal estuarine system in Maryland, USA. Regional Studies in Marine Science. Vol. 42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2021.101620.
Paulinus Chigbu grew up in Nigeria and was always interested in science. He first became interested in the environmental field while working on his bachelor’s honors thesis at the University of Benin in Nigeria. “The research focused on rotifers in a river in Nigeria,” Dr. Chigbu explains. “My professor and advisor, Austin Egbore, taught me how to study zooplankton. That was the platform for my interest in hydrobiology.” After completing his degree in 1984, Egbore invited Dr. Chigbu back to the university to work with him, teaching zoology and hydrobiology while he earned his master’s degree. Dr. Chigbu enjoyed teaching and researching those areas and decided to pursue his fishery doctorate. Dr. Chigbu earned his master’s in zoology from the University of Benin in Nigeria in 1987. He later moved to the US and completed a doctorate in fisheries from the University of Washington in 1993.
Dr. Chigbu got a Fulbright scholarship to do his doctoral work at the University of Washington, where he received his Ph.D. in 1993. After earning his doctorate, Dr. Chigbu found a teaching position at Elizabeth City State University; from there, he moved on to Jackson State University, where he worked as an associate professor of biology and the director of the school’s Marine Science Program. Dr. Chigbu is currently a marine and environmental science professor at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), where he also serves as director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center at UMES. His research interests include fisheries ecology, climactic influences on water quality and biota, trophic dynamics in marine and freshwater environments, and zooplankton ecology. In addition to a Fulbright scholarship, Dr. Chigbu has received an Excellence Fellowship from the University of Washington School of Fisheries, a Research Innovation Award from Jackson State University, and served as Chair of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Division. In 2018, he received the United States Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.
Dr. Chigbu says that doing something he truly enjoys, in tandem with contributing to the pool of knowledge in his field, has been deeply gratifying. He does not consider any single accomplishment or award he has earned to be the highlight of his career; instead, his career as a whole is his significant achievement.
“I’m happy to mentor students,” Chigbu says (2016). He is involved in a variety of formal mentoring programs as well as serving as a more informal guide and inspiration to his students. While at Jackson State, he and a colleague ran a project that brought minority students to Jackson State and the University of Southern Mississippi to research marine and coastal sciences; Dr. Chigbu coordinated recruiting students for the program and paired them with faculty members for their research projects. Additionally, he has served as a mentor to high school students participating in the American Fisheries Society Hutton Junior Fisheries Biologist Scholarship Program. Dr. Chigbu has also participated in several initiatives to promote diversity in his field. He was involved in the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) for three years at Jackson State, a program with an undergraduate research and internship component and a high school outreach component. He was also the program coordinator for an Office of Naval Research Interns in Biomolecular Sciences Research Enhancement Program project.
For minorities interested in his area of the environmental field, Chigbu suggests taking a comprehensive approach to their education and career plans. “First, you must be sure you are truly interested in studying the environmental sciences,” he advises (2016). “If you are interested, you should look carefully at a number of schools and universities before you participate in their environmental programs. Undergraduates need to make sure they have a strong foundation in basic science (physics, chemistry, and biology) and general math. It is important to know because that knowledge is interconnected. No knowledge is a waste” (2016). Finally, Dr. Chigbu says students need to know what they want to achieve and work hard for it: “You need to know what you want to accomplish and set short and long-term goals, then work toward them. It will require hard work and sacrifice. You have to be motivated and looking for opportunities. Look for mentors to help you reach your goals” (2016).
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore. n.d. Dr. Paulinus Chigbu. Retrieved June 27, 2023 from https://wwwcp.umes.edu/lmrcsc/faculty/dr-paulinus-chigbu/.