Three AWRI students win Michigan Space Grants Consortium Fellowships.

On February 11, 2016, Bopi Biddanda served on the panel of Michigan Space Grants Consortium assisting with the selection of awardees for 2016-2017 (MSGC – the state arm of NASA housed at University of Michigan’s Department of Aerospace Engineering:  https://www.mi.spacegrant.org/).  Since 2010, Bopi has served on the Executive Board of MSGC as GVSU’s Affiliate Representative coordinating the submission of proposals that address NASA’s vision and values from GVSU students and faculty to MSGC (https://mi.spacegrant.org/index.php?page=executive-board).  GVSU is one of the 12 MSGC affiliate institutions in Michigan, and submits on average about a dozen proposals each year.  MSGC receives over 150 proposals each year from its affiliate member institutions in response to the call for proposals that compete for a funding pool of ~$250,000 - $500,000.  The February 2016 panel met to evaluate proposals that were in response to the request for proposals sent out in September 2015.  Prior to this meeting, Affiliate members review and rate the proposals that are from outside their own institutions.  At the panel, each proposal is reevaluated openly, with panelists able to champion their projects or critique them beyond the written reviews. Only about 1/3 of the applicant pool ends up being funded each year, indicating the competition for funding is stiff.

At this year’s panel, 10 out of 14 GVSU submissions received funding for a total of ~$42,000.  Of these, 3 were faculty seed grants (funds for initiating new lines of scientific research), 1 was a program grant (funds for pre-college science experiences), 2 graduate fellowships (in support of thesis research) and 4 undergraduate fellowships (in support of summer research experiences). 

AWRI students received both graduate fellowships ($5000 each) and one undergraduate fellowship ($2500): 

• Emily Kindervater, graduate fellowship: “Phosphorus retention in Macatawa Watershed agricultural ditches”, working with advisor Al Steinman,
• Nick Gezon, graduate fellowship: “Exploring viral metagenomics in the Great Lakes” working with advisor Kevin Strychar.
• Gabrielle Thalen, undergraduate fellowship: “Technology-Assisted Robust and Comprehensive Habitat Assessment and Water Quality Analysis”  working with advisor John Koches.

The significance of these awards goes well beyond mere dollar amounts.  They assist young faculty testing new research ideas, support STEM education at the K-12 stage, and provide proposal writing experiences for promising graduate and undergraduate students – driving NASA’s mission of advancing science, technology and exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality and stewardship of Earth. 

Bopi Biddanda served on the panel of Michigan Space Grants Consortium funding in the 2016-2017 cycle. He serves on the executive board of MSGC and is GVSU’s affiliate representative to MSGC. The selection meeting was held in Ann Arbor on February 11. Ten out of 14 projects from GVSU were funded for a total of $40,000.  These included 3 fellowships for AWRI student applicants.

Charlyn Partridge has agreed to be an associate editor for the journal Ecology and Evolution.

Rick Rediske hosted a GVSU Environmental Science class at the AWRI on February 17.

Carl Ruetz attended the Grand Rapids Catholic Central Research Science Symposium at the Van Andel Institute on February 9.  Carl had provided data to a high school student who presented at this event.

Brian Scull assisted in training others to use the new qPCR system for monitoring E. coli at a training session held at MSU from February 8 – 11.

Al Steinman participated in a pre-bid meeting for consultants, hosted by WMSRDC, regarding the Lower Muskegon River re-connection project on February 5.  The bids were due soon and selection review took place on February 22.

Al Steinman attended the Ottawa County Groundwater meeting on February 11 in West Olive. The MSU researchers presented their findings to date.

Al Steinman attended a Goodwill Board meeting on February 15.

Al Steinman attended a Board of Trustees meeting of The Nature Conservancy in Lansing on February 19.

Al Steinman has been invited to serve on the Science and Information Subcommittee (SIS) to US EPA’s Great Lakes Advisory Board. His term lasts through January 2018.

AWRI staff are bolded, undergraduate students are denoted with a single asterisk*, graduate students are denoted with two asterisks**, and post-doc researchers are donated with three asterisks ***.

Publications

Bopi Biddanda and post-doctoral researcher Dirk Koopmans are co-authors on an article in the GVSU Regional Math and Science Center publication InterChange:
Biddanda, B. and D. Koopmans. 2016. Freshwater Furnace: Global Significance of the Changing Freshwater Carbon Cycle.  InterChange: Magazine of the Regional Math and Science Center, GVSU 23 (1) Connections for the STEM Classroom.
https://www.gvsu.edu/rmsc/interchange/connections-for-the-stem-classroom-299.htm

Rick Rediske is a co-author of an article published in Water Resources IMPACT:
Wampler, P.J., A.R. Molla, and R.R. Rediske. 2016. Transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable water resources and treatment in developing countries. Water Resources Impact. 18(1) 20-21.

Presentations

(Presenter listed first)

AWRI was represented at the 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana from February 21 – 26.  This meeting is co-sponsored by AGU (American Geophysical Union), ASLO (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography), and TOS (The Oceanography Society).  Bopi Biddanda and graduate student Anthony Weinke both attended and presented at the conference.
Biddanda, B. Poster. Coordinated motility of cyanobacteria favor net photosynthesis in shallow sunlit sinkholes of Lake Huron; whereas deep-water aphotic sinkholes are analogs of deep-sea and vent ecosystems.
Weinke, A.** and B. Biddanda. Poster. Layered lake: Ecosystem dynamics in a freshwater estuary during the growing season with respect to climate change, stratification, and episodic mixing events.

Delilah Clement, graduate student working with Al Steinman, was selected to present at a 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition held on February 18.

Dirk Koopmans gave a presentation titled “How much organic carbon do streams transform?” at an Ecolunch, internal seminar, at AWRI on February 5.

AWRI graduate students, Emily Kindervater and Nick Gezon both received graduate fellowships ($5000 each) for their projects “Phosphorus retention in Macatawa Watershed agricultural ditches”, and “Exploring viral metagenomics in the Great Lakes”, respectively.  Gabrielle Thalen, undergraduate student who was a 2015 AWRI summer intern received an undergraduate fellowship ($2500) for her project “Technology-Assisted Robust and Comprehensive Habitat Assessment and Water Quality Analysis.

The Steinman Lab received a grant in the amount of $31,292 from the Spring Lake – Lake Board to study Internal Phosphorus Loading in Spring Lake, Summer 2016.

AWRI In the News

“GVSU director appointed to EPA advisory board”
GV Now (a publication of Grand Valley State University), February 22, 2016
Alan Steinman, director of Grand Valley's Annis Water Resources Institute, has been appointed to serve on the Science and Information Subcommittee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes Advisory Board. His term will continue through January 2018.

“AWRI offers internships”
FORUM (a publication of Grand Valley State University), February 15, 2016
The article features AWRI undergraduate internships offered in the summer, as well as a scholarship offered in the fall for either graduate or undergraduate students.

LMC Events

Feb 12
Seminar Speaker: Dr. Cameron Turner, Chief Scientist at ecoSysGen (ecoSystems Genetics LLC), presented: “The ecology of environmental DNA”

Feb 19
GVSU Health and Wellness held their Biometric Screening for staff at the Lake Michigan Center.