The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has chosen a computer model developed by researchers at William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science as its next-generation tool for managing Chesapeake Bay restoration in an era of rapid climate change.

The selected model, known as SCHISM for Semi-implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model, was developed by Dr. Joseph Zhang of VIMS’s Center for Coastal Resources Management.

Selection of the SCHISM model is the first step in a six-year, $1.65 million cooperative agreement between VIMS and the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Office, in collaboration with the many other federal, state and tribal partners that make up the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Joining Zhang on the modeling team are Drs. Harry Wang, Jian Shen Marjorie, Friedrichs, Pierre St.-Laurent, Fei Ye, Zhengui Wang, Qubin Qin and Nicole Cair of VIMS, along with Dr. Jeremy Testa of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Slated to begin operati...