Murray joined the faculty at Elizabethtown College in 1994, having earned a doctorate from the University of Connecticut. He was granted tenure in 2000. His research interests include phosphorus and water quality in temperate lakes, lake respiration and biogeochemical cycles, acid rain and lake eutrophication, the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients that stimulate the growth of aquatic plant life, usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen. Murray and his students conduct research in these areas at Elizabethtown College’s Lake Placida and in local streams. Murray is a board member of the Tri-County Conewago Creek Association.