Russell Hill

Russell T. Hill, Ph.D. Director, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology. and Professor, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Russell Hill completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cape Town in 1988 and did postdoctoral studies with Rita Colwell at the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB), University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. He then held faculty positions at COMB, worked for three years at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and returned to COMB where he served as Professor and Associate Director. He is now Director and Professor at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET), University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. He has served as Director of IMET since 2012. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, has served as President of the Maryland Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, as a member of the Editorial Boards of “Applied and Environmental Microbiology” and “Marine Biotechnology” and a Board Member of the International Marine Biotechnology Association. He has published more than 100 research papers on marine microbiology and biotechnology and has an H-index of 42.

Russell Hill studies the diversity and functions of microbes associated with marine invertebrates. Research interests include the biodiversity of marine microbes and the potential of marine microbes as sources of new drugs, in particular the role of microbial symbionts in production of important bioactive compounds. He has an interest in marine microalgae and associated bacteria as a source of biofuel.