Dr. Chuck Somerville earned a B.S. in Microbiology from Penn State University in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Marine Microbiology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1989. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Biological Station in Roscoff, France, where he studied the evolution of photosynthetic organelles in marine algae. From northern France, he moved to the EPA Environmental Research Laboratory in Gulf Breeze, Florida, where he studied the biodegradation of chlorinated solvents, and later to the US Air Force Environics Lab at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida, where he worked on the biodegradation and bioremediation of explosives. Dr. Somerville joined the faculty at Marshall in 1997, where he studied the biodegradation of chlorinated solvents in mixed wastes, and microbial community dynamics in large river systems. He served as Head of the Division of Biological Sciences from 2005 to 2009 and Dean of the College of Science from 2009-2022. In 2011, he was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Dr. Somerville has served on the Board of Directors for the West Virginia NASA Space Grant Consortium (2009-2016), on the West Virginia Science & Research Council (2010-2018), and on the Steering Committee for America’s Watershed Initiative (2013-2018). Dr. Somerville was selected as a member of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Chief of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board, and served on the EAB from 2015 to 2021. He has been a member of the Steering Committee for the Ohio River Basin Alliance (ORBA) since 2010. He has served as the Marshall University Trustee to the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research & Education (ORBCRE) since 1998 and is currently serving as the ORBCRE Executive Director. He also serves as the Vice Chair of the West Virginia Environmental Quality Board.