Pictured Left to Right in Front Row: Travis Bisson Rick Rediske; Zach Madaj Jim McNair; Alli Kneisel Carl Ruetz; Jessika Blackport Ryan Thum; Erika Arndt John Koches; Adrienne Gibson Mark Luttenton.

Pictured Left to Right in Back Row: Steve Long Bopi Biddanda; Tony Weinke Bopi Biddanda; Travis Foster Mark Luttenton; Ben Sikkenga Ryan Thum; Neal Swanson Mark Luttenton; Mikel Vredevoogd Mark Luttenton.

Not Pictured: Tom Holcomb - Bopi Biddanda; Michael Bredeweg - Carl Ruetz; Brandon Harris - Carl Ruetz; Eric Tidquist - Al Steinman; Caleb James Ryan Thum; Amanda Maycroft - Janet Vail; Amanda Syers - Janet Vail.

2011 AWRI Summer Student Interns

One of the joys of summer at AWRI is our student intern program. This summer, we welcome a record 19 student interns to the Institute. These students are funded by a variety of sources and work with different principal investigators.

Four interns are being funded through the D.J. Angus-Scientech Educational Foundation, a long-time sponsor of student internships at AWRI: Jessika Blackport will be working with Ryan Thum; Adrienne Gibson will be working with Mark Luttenton; Allison Kneisel will be working with Carl Ruetz; and Anthony Weinke will be working with Bopi Biddanda.

Three interns are being funded through the R.B. Annis Foundation: Erika Arndt will be working with John Koches; Travis Bisson will be working with Rick Rediske; and Zachary Madaj will be working with Jim McNair.

In addition, 12 other students will be funded through a variety of grants. The team consisting of Amanda Syers and Amanda Maycroft will be working with Janet Vail; Tom Holcomb and Stephen Long will be working with Bopi Biddanda; Travis Foster, Neal Swanson, and Mikel Vredevoogd all will be working with Mark Luttenton; Eric Tidquest will be working in Al Steinmans lab; Michael Bredeweg and Brandon Harris will be working with Carl Ruetz; and Ben Sikkenga and Caleb James will be working in Ryan Thums lab.

A special thanks to all of these bright, young researchers for their hard work and dedication!

LMC Events

May 2
AWRI Summer Student Orientation was held.

May 5
A MI Water Web meeting was held in the Bultema room.

May 5
Whitehall Public Schools 2nd graders visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.

May 9
West Michigan Water Works Association held a meeting in the MPR.

May 10
New Era Christian School 2nd & 3rd graders visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.

May 11
Students from the Mecosta Osceola Intermediate School District visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a trip on the W.G. Jackson.

May 12 and 25
Murphy Elementary School students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.

May 13
Series Seminar: Dr. Sandra Cooke of Duke University presented Plankton food resources for Asian carp in the Great lakes: a feast or famine?

May 16
Jared Homola, graduate student working with Carl Ruetz, successfully passed his Qualifying Exam.

May 16
The Muskegon Lake Shoreline Restoration Project meeting was held in the MPR. Dr. Paul Isely, with the GVSU Department of Economics, gave a presentation titled Socio-economics of Muskegon Lake Restoration.

May 17, 19, 24 and 26
Fruitport Middle school students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.

May 20
The Natural Resources, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Committee of the Michigan House of Representatives, hosted by Rep. Holly Hughes, held an Asian Carp and Aquatic Invasive Species Town Hall Meeting in the MPR.

May 23
John Koches, Jim McNair, Ryan Thum, and Mark Luttenton hosted an invasive species meeting on May 23 at the Lake Michigan Center. Invited guests included MDNR Wildlife Division, Lansing and Grand Rapids TNC, Ottawa Parks and Recreation, Ottawa County Road Commission, and Ottawa County Drain Commissioner.

May 27 and 31
Daisy Brook Elementary students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.

 

Activities

Carl Ruetz and Brandon Harris attended an S3 meeting in Allendale on May 9.

Carl Ruetz attended wetland training in New York on May 17 and 18, and again in Saginaw Bay on May 24 and 25.

Al Steinman hosted a meeting on May 5 with colleagues from MSU and Michigan Tech regarding a new website on Michigan water called MI Water Web.

Al Steinman attended a Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping Project meeting on May 11 and 12 in Ann Arbor.

Hannah Tavalire, graduate student working with Ryan Thum, accepted an offer to attend Oregon State University's PhD program in Zoology, working with Michael Blouin.

Janet Vail gave a tour of the Lake Michigan Center to the West Michigan Water Works Association on May 9.

Janet Vail and Amanda Maycroft lead stations at the annual Reeths-Puffer Schools salmon release for 3rd and 4th grade students. These events were held on May 13 and 16.

Janet Vail, Amanda Maycroft, and Amanda Syers attended a Groundswell dinner in Grand Rapids on May 18. Janet also attended a Governing Board meeting for that group on May 4.

Janet Vail and Amanda Maycroft hosted a station at the Project WET Community Water Festival in Big Rapids on May 20.

Janet Vail attended a Great Lakes Educators workshop in Chicago on May 25 and 26.

Jon VanderMolen attended the American Wind Energy Association annual conference in Anaheim, California from May 23 - 26.

 

Presentations

Several AWRI faculty/staff/students attended the annual meeting of the North American Benthological Society (NABS) in Providence, Rhode Island from May 22 - 26. The following presentations were given by AWRI staff and students:

Gillett, N.D., Y. Pan, K.M. Manoylov, and R.J. Stevenson. The role of live diatoms in bioassessment: a large-scale study of western US streams.

Nelson, W.A. and A.D. Steinman. Composition and toxic sensitivity of benthic invertebrate assemblages in Muskegon Lake, a Great Lakes area of concern.

Ogdahl, M.E. and A.D. Steinman. Long-term ecological responses to alum treatment in Spring Lake, Michigan.

Steinman, A.D., M.E. Ogdahl, D.G. Uzarski, M. Cooper, and M. Weinert. The influence of Great Lakes water levels on nutrient release.

Several AWRI faculty/staff/students attended the annual meeting of the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) in Duluth, Minnesota from May 30 - June 3. The following presentations were given by AWRI staff and students:

Bhagat, Y. and C.R. Ruetz III. Oral. Determinants of fish community assemblages in drowned river mouth systems of Lake Michigan.

Dila, D.K. and B.A. Biddanda. Microbes and Carbon Flux in a Great Lakes Watershed.

Kendall, S.T., B.A. Biddanda, and P. Nieberding. A New Moored Buoy Observatory in the Muskegon Lake AOC (Muskegon, MI).

Rediske, R.R., L.Q. Xie, J.P. O'Keefe, J.A. Dyble-Bressie, and J.M. Hagar. The influence of environmental conditions and hydrologic connectivity on cyanobacteria assemblages.

Steinman, A.D., M.E. Ogdahl, D.G. Uzarski, M. Cooper, and M. Weinert. The influence of Great Lakes water levels on nutrient release.

Stewart, S.R., J. Vail, T. Kelly, and R. Nugent. Poster. Coordinated Lake-specific Onboard Education & Outreach: A Michigan GLRI Initiative.

Tromp, E.A., R.R. Rediske, and J.P. O'Keefe. PBDEs in Lake Huron Fish.

Allan, J.D., Smith, S.D.P., Mcintyre, P.B., Halpern, B., Boyer, G., Buchsbaum, A., Burton, A., Campbell, L., Chadderton, L., Ciborowski, J., Doran, P., Eder, T., Hecky, R., Infante, D., Johnson, L., Lodge, D., Read, J., Rutherford, E., Sowa, S., Steinman, A., Joseph, C. Biel, R., Olson, J. Oral. Project GLEAM: Mapping Individual Stressors Across the Great Lakes.

Smith, S.D.P., Allan, J.D., Mcintyre, P.B., Halpern, B., Marino, A.L., Boyer, G., Buchsbaum, A., Burton, A., Campbell, L., Chadderton, L., Ciborowski, J., Doran, P., Eder, T., Hecky, R., Infante, D., Johnson, L., Lodge, D., Read, J., Rutherford, E., Sowa, S., Steinman, A. Oral. Project GLEAM: Quantifying Expert Opinion on the Relative Impact of Stressors in the Great Lakes.

McIntyre, P.B., Allan, J.D., Smith, S.D.P., Halpern, B., Boyer, G., Buchsbaum, A., Burton, A., Campbell, L., Chadderton, L., Ciborowski, J., Doran, P., Eder, T., Hecky, R., Infante, D., Johnson, L., Lodge, D., Read, J., Rutherford, E., Sowa, S., Steinman, A., Joseph, C. Oral. Project GLEAM: Cumulative Mapping of Stressors Across the Great Lakes.

Bopi Biddanda presented on the career of a Marine Biologist at Grandville Middle Schools Career Day on May 5.

Rick Rediske gave a presentation on Analytical Methods for Contaminant Analysis in Fish at the Michigan Environmental Laboratory Association Meeting in Lansing on May 19.

Al Steinman presented on AWRI to West Michigan Water Works Association on May 9.

Al Steinman presented at the Muskegon Lake Shoreline Restoration Project meeting held at the Lake Michigan Center on May 16.

Al Steinman presented the update of activities at the William G. Jackson Muskegon Lake Research Endowment Fund Advisory Committee annual meeting on May 18. Rick Rediske also attended this event.

Al Steinman testified at a field hearing of the Michigan House of Representatives Natural Resources, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Committee on Asian carp at the LMC on May 20.

 

Publications

Al Steinman and Mary Ogdahl are co-authors on an article accepted for publication in the December issue of JNABS.

Steinman, A.D., and M.E. Ogdahl. In Press. Does converting agricultural fields to wetlands retain or release phosphorus? Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

 

Awards & Recognition

Bopi Biddanda was appointed as the GVSU representative on the Board of Michigan Space Grants Consortium (NASA).

 

AWRI In the News

Creating stewards through education
Grand Rapids Magazine, May 2011 The article is about the 25th anniversary of the research vessel D. J. Angus. It also gives general information on both of the AWRI research vessels.

Fishing notes from Kingfish
Muskegon Chronicle, May 11, 2011 The article mentions a presentation on invasive species held at the Annis Water Resources Institute on May 20.

Asian carp issues aired in Muskegon town hall meeting
Muskegon Chronicle, May 21, 2011 The Asian carp presentation that took place on May 20 at the Lake Michigan Center was discussed. Al Steinman was one of the presenters.