Mitra, Madhumi
Madhumi Mitra
Dr. Madhumi Mitra is a tenured full professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with over 23 years in academia. She coordinates two education programs: chemistry and biology. Additionally, Dr. Mitra is the Regional Editor for the Taylor and Francis journal, the International Journal of Ambient Energy. She has been a recipient of several competitive grants and awards. Besides publishing in various journals and writing book chapters, Dr. Mitra has been a primary editor and a contributor to the book, Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach with Springer Publishers. Her multidisciplinary research covers marine plants, bioenergy, and sustainable agriculture using Farmbots. She has served on numerous grant review panels such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and many more.
“Teaching is a noble profession, and I am very passionate about it,” - Mitra Madhumi, 2010
Tkachenko, A., Mitra, M., Schwarz, J. G., Waguespack, Y., and Brooks, C. B. (2010). The content of carotenes, ascorbic acid, and tocopherols in selected seaweeds. Accepted for publication in the International Journal on Algae.
Chaudhuri, A., Mitra, M. Schwarz, J.G., and Schiewer, S. (2009). Copper, Zinc, Nickel, and Cobalt biosorption potential of Fucus vesiculosus (Phaeophyceae) and Gracilaria tikvahiae (Rhodophyta). Wat. Practice & Tech. doi:10.2166/wpt.2009.039.
Havrilla, C., Mitra, M., and Mandouma, G. Isolation of Di (2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) from chlorophytes Ulva lactuca and Enteromorpha intestinalis from Indian River Inlet, Delaware, USA. 2008. Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research, 7 (1), 26-30.
Chaudhuri, A., Mitra, M., Havrilla, C., Waguespack, Y., and Schwarz, J. (2007). Heavy Metal Biomonitoring by Seaweeds on the Delmarva Peninsula, East Coast of the USA. Botanica Marina, 50, 151-158.
Mitra, M. and Mickle, J.E. 2007. Palynological Age Assessment of Localities (Tar Heel Formation) in North Carolina. Journal of North Carolina Academy of Science, 123 (1) 60-64.
Havrilla, C., Mitra, M., Chaudhuri, A., Mandouma, G., Waguespack, Y., Schwarz, J., and Wu, S. (2006). Solid State CP-MAS 13C NMR Analysis of Seaweeds from the Chincoteague Bay, Virginia. Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research, 4, 175-179.
Nagchaudhuri, A., Mitra, M., Marsh, M., Daughtry, C., Earle, T., and J. Schwarz. (2008). Site specific farming, environmental concerns, and associated advanced technologies, provide a platform for active learning and research at a land grant university. Proceeding of 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 22-25, 2008.CD ROM.
Dr. Madhumi Mitra has always felt that humans exist within a broader ecosystem rather than above or apart from it. Her earliest memories include a love for the outdoors and interactions with nature’s flora and fauna. “I always knew that I wanted to be an environmentalist,” Dr. Mitra says. “The way I saw people treating the environment made me sad. I knew I needed to do something that would make people become aware of the environment and respect it.”
Dr. Mitra began studying the environment in her native country India, earning a Bachelor of Science in botany with minors in geology and physiology from Presidency College, Calcutta, and a master’s degree in botany from the University Colleges of Science and Technology, Calcutta. She moved to the U.S. in 1991, completed her doctorate, and became an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES) in 2002.
After moving to the U.S. in 1991, she taught as a lecturer in environmental science at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES) while working on her doctoral dissertation in cretaceous palynology, paleoenvironment, and climate from the Department of Plant Biology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Now, as a full professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at UMES, Dr. Mitra is living her dream of “making a difference” by educating others about the importance of the natural world.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Mitra serves as the Biology and Chemistry Education Programs’ coordinator and has received several teaching, research, and service grants from various federal agencies. She has developed and expanded additional courses at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), including Marine Botany, a methods course in Biology, Principles of Geology, Principles of Scientific Communications, Marine and Estuarine Ecology, Introduction to Bioenergy and Bioproducts and Sustainability, and Marine Natural Resources. “Teaching is a noble profession, and I am very passionate about it,” she says.
Although Dr. Mitra loves the education and service components of her work, conducting research has been the highlight of her career. One of her major projects, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, investigates the role of Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) seaweeds in marine ecosystems. Another funded project explores the possibility of utilizing some of the micro and macroalgae to generate biofuels. “We are investigating the beneficial uses for these nuisance seaweed species so that in the future they could be harvested for human nutrition and health products, as well as for sustainable bioenergy,” Dr. Mitra says. She notes that an overabundance of edible seaweeds in marine and estuarine waters can lead to blooms, resulting in anoxic conditions detrimental to aquatic life.
However, Dr. Mitra notes that it is critical to determine how much seaweed is necessary for a healthy ecosystem before harvesting, as many other aquatic plants and animals depend on them for their nutrition and survival. The projects have become significant collaborative efforts involving several colleagues across departments, graduate and undergraduate researchers, and aquafarmers. Dr. Mitra feels such projects could become a large-scale, national, and international collaboration. “I also enjoy incorporating different facets into my work…I do believe in green engineering and green chemistry, and that is where we are heading with assistance from environmentally-conscious chemists and engineers,” she says.
While Dr. Mitra is satisfied with her career path, her rapid advancement sometimes proved to be an obstacle and an achievement. It was not always easy to balance her family and her career; she had to take time off from her doctoral work to move to Puerto Rico with her husband, Dr. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, and her then-two-year-old daughter, Auromita. “My husband needed my support, and I decided that it was important for us to stay together with our daughter,” she says.
After teaching for only a year at a private school in Puerto Rico, she returned to North Carolina State to complete her doctoral work. “It was a tough decision, but I was able to do it because of the support I received from my husband, parents, and friends,” she says. “I saved my scholarship money to fly to Puerto Rico every other month to be with my family, even though it was expensive. My parents were also very supportive, and went to Puerto Rico for a year to live with my husband and daughter.”
Recently, in July 2023, Dr. Mitra was appointed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore to the Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council. Dr. Mitra was among an elite group of scientists, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and entrepreneurs to earn the first master’s degrees in medical cannabis science in the nation. The program was at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore. She was pivotal as a team leader in developing an educational app for staff and patients in collaboration with a Maryland medical dispensary.
Dr. Mitra says she owes her career to her husband and family for their inspiration, encouragement, and recognition of her love for the natural world. However, Dr. Mitra says she has largely guided herself without mentors: “There were many people throughout my career who supported me mentally and spiritually, but in terms of my career achievements, I am totally self-made.”
Advising students is another significant part of Dr. Mitra’s professional life that she enjoys immensely. “I try to involve my students as much as possible in my research,” she says. “I have an open-door policy with my advisees. I try to help them find jobs and internships. I love to mentor, and many of my students have done independent studies and undergraduate research with me. They are really motivated…we learn from one another.”
Her students are equally excited about interacting with her. In 2004, Dr. Mitra received the Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award from the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. She has also received the Chrysalis Scholarship for outstanding academic achievement from the Association for Women Geoscientists. She is also the recipient of the best paper award for her paper, “Energizing the STEAM curricula with Bioenergy and Bioproducts,” from the Energy Conversion and Conservation Division (ECCD) of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in 2013. Currently, Dr. Mitra serves as the Treasurer for the ECCD.
Dr. Mitra is committed to promoting the next generation of students and has received accolades for her efforts. She is the principal investigator of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) funded pre-service teacher program called PETALS (Partnership to Enhance Teaching and Advance Learning in Schools, an acronym coined by Dr. Mitra) at UMES. The program’s primary objective is to spur a nationwide increase in the quantity, quality, and diversity of K-12 teachers “competent and proficient in teaching science and mathematics using appropriate technology.” Dr. Mitra and a colleague have collaborated with NASA and the NIA to organize the 2006, 2007, and 2009 National Pre-Service Teacher Conferences in Alexandria, Virginia.
Dr. Mitra acknowledges that pursuing her career has required personal sacrifice that sometimes has outweighed her work’s satisfaction; however, she believes in what she does, and her desire to protect the environment remains as strong as ever. “My life has been meaningful, and for this, I am thankful to the Eternal One, for I believe if you turn to the Divine and ask, you will get what you need—not necessarily what you imagine you need but the true thing you need, you will get,” she says.
Among her work’s most satisfying rewards is her ability to work with and mentor minority students. UMES is a historically black land grant institution established in 1890, and Dr. Mitra relishes her ability to promote minority participation in environmental sciences actively. “Many of my undergraduate students are minorities—I teach them, promote them, and encourage them every day,” she says. “It is an important cause, and I will continue to help them as long as I live.”
Dr. Mitra advises minority students interested in the environment: “More minorities need to enter this field. We really need more – we have proved our worth and excellence in various fields, now we should turn our attention to the environment. People go into certain fields for money…this field is not always lucrative, but the satisfaction you get down deep is invaluable. Nature and Environment manifest the Divine.”
Gill, C. (2023, July 18). UMES Professor Named to Maryland Cannabis Advisory Council. Retrieved July 21, 2023 from https://wwwcp.umes.edu/pr/umes-professor-named-to-maryland-cannabis-advi….
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
Madhumi Mitra. Home [LinkedIn Page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 21, 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhumi-mitra-38647920/.