AWRI Graduate Students Awarded Scholarships

Graduate students Molly Lane and Paige Kleindl have both been awarded $2,000 scholarships from the West Michigan Chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association! The scholarships will help both students fund their respective thesis research projects. Molly (advised by Dr. Rick Rediske) is comparing the Colilert test and qPCR as two methods of detecting total coliform bacteria and E. coli bacteria for Lake Michigan beach monitoring. Paige (advised by Dr. Al Steinman) is studying the community dynamics of aquatic plants and epiphytic algae that grow on the surface of plants within the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern. Congratulations, students!

Andrew Pyman, graduate student working with Charlyn Partridge, successfully passed his Qualifying Exam on February 20^th.

Bopi Biddanda and Anthony Weinke attended a Hydrodynamic Modeling and Instrumentation Workshop and Training, hosted by Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Ann Arbor on February 21^st - 22^nd.

Bopi Biddanda served on the Michigan Space Grant Consortium Panel, reviewing projects for funding in Ann Arbor, MI on February 22^nd.  Bopi serves on the Executive Board of MSGC and as representative of GVSU.

Mark Luttenton attended the 78^th Annual Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 28^th – 30^th.

Al Steinman was invited to be a panel member at MSU’s Environmental Science and Policy Program round-table discussion on Fresh Water Security on February 26^th.

Al Steinman was invited to attend a meeting with George Heartwell, Claude Perras, and Dave Ullrich to discuss participation by GVSU team(s) in the AquaHacking challenge on Feb 28^th in Grand Rapids.

Al Steinman was invited to be a member at MSU’s Environmental Science and Policy Program panel: "Michigan's Environment: Challenges for the Future" on March 24th.

Al Steinman was invited to participate in a panel at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in conjunction with the Great Lakes Cycle paintings by Alexis Rockman on March 27^th.

Janet Vail has been selected to represent the Midwest region on the GLOBE US Partner Forum for a three-year term.

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 several others from AWRI are co-authors of an article in Journal of Great Lakes Research:
Biddanda, B.A., A.D. Weinke**, S.T. Kendall, L.C. Gereaux**, T.M. Holcomb*, M.J. Snider**, D.K. Dila**, S.A. Long*, C. VandenBerg*, K. Knapp**, D.J. Koopmans***, K. Thompson, J.H. Vail, M.E. Ogdahl, Q. Liu***, T.J. Johengen, E.J. Anderson, and S.A. Ruberg. 2018. Chronicles of Hypoxia: Time-series buoy observations reveal annually recurring seasonal basin-wide hypoxia in Muskegon Lake – a Great Lakes estuary. Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0380133018300029

Bopi Biddanda and other members of his lab wrote an article published in the newsletter of the GVSU Regional Math and Science Center, InterChange:
Biddanda, B.A., A. Weinke**, and K. Knapp**. 2018. Chronicles of hypoxia: GVSU’s time-series observatory tracks hypoxia and ecosystem changes in a Great Lakes estuary – Muskegon Lake Area of Concern. InterChange – Connections for the STEM Classroom, Newsletter of Regional Math and Science Center, GVSU. February 2018. https://www.gvsu.edu/rmsc/interchange/connections-for-the-stem-classroom-299.htm

Al Steinman is a co-author with MSU collaborators on an article published in Science of the Total Environment:
Liu, B., C.E. McClean, D.T. Long, A.D. Steinman, and R.J. Stevenson. 2018. Lake eutrophication and recovery over a 200-year period of post-native American settlement was determined by a complex set of local and regional factors. Science of the Total Environment 628-629: 1352-1361.

Al Steinman is a co-author with collaborators from China on an article accepted to the journal Environmental Pollution:
Cao, Q., A.D. Steinman, X. Wan, and L. Xie. Bioaccumulation of microcystin congeners in soil-plant system and human health risk assessment: A field study from Lake Taihu region of China. Environmental Pollution.

Presentations

(Presenter listed first)

(Presenter listed first)

AWRI was represented at the annual meeting of the Michigan Chapter of the American Fisheries Society held in Port Huron, Michigan from February 13^th – 14^th.  Travis Ellens, Kaitlyn Emelander, Alan Mock, Carl Ruetz, and Maria Scarborough were all in attendance.  Members of the Ruetz Lab presented posters.
Ellens, T.**, C.R. Ruetz III, B. Harris**, B. Biddanda, and A. Weinke**.  Poster.  Movements and habitat use of adult lake sturgeon in Muskegon Lake and Muskegon River.
Emelander, K.M.**, C.R. Ruetz III, M.J. Cooper, and D.G. Uzarski.  Poster.  Occupancy and detection of yellow perch in Great Lakes coastal wetlands: preliminary results.
Mock, A.**, C.R. Ruetz III, T. Ellens**, D. Mays, and A. Martell.  Poster.  Evaluation of remote site incubators in three tributaries of the Manistee River.
Scarborough, M.*, E. Hausig*, C.R. Ruetz III, and T. Ellens**.  Poster.  Seasonal diets and feeding rates of brown trout and mottled sculpin: preliminary results. 

AWRI was represented at the 3-Minute Thesis Presentations Competition, sponsored by The Graduate School, Pew Campus, GVSU on February 15^th.
Katie Knapp.  “Using Time-series Observations to infer Carbon Cycling in a Great Lakes estuary”
Kim Oldenborg.  “The Balancing Act of Wetland Restoration”

Travis Ellens attended the Great Lakes Lake Sturgeon Coordination Meeting in Port Huron on February 21^st – 22^nd.  He presented a poster:
Ellens, T.**, C.R. Ruetz III, B. Harris**, B. Biddanda, and A. Weinke**.  Poster.  Movement patterns of adult lake sturgeon in a Lake Michigan drowned river mouth. 

Lidiia Iavorivska gave a presentation on her SWAT findings at a Project Clarity meeting in Holland on February 21^st.  Al Steinman was also in attendance.

Mark Luttenton gave a guest lecture in Advanced Aquatic Ecosystem Management, BIO 580, about groundwater on February 6^th.

Mark Luttenton gave a guest lecture in Natural History of Invertebrates, BIO 232, about freshwater water mollusks on February 15^th.

Alan Mock, graduate student working with Carl Ruetz, gave a presentation titled “History and current status of Arctic grayling in Michigan” to the Pine River group on February 24^th in Rockford.

Rick Rediske presented at a GVSU Geology seminar regarding his recent work with PFOS on February 19^th.

Al Steinman was invited to present to Battle Creek city planners on Blue Economy initiatives on February 16^th.

Janet Vail gave a presentation about AWRI for the GVSU National Science Teachers Association student group on February 1^st.

Janet Vail presented information about water festivals for a Project WET, USA webinar on February 20^th.

Mark Luttenton received the Brown Trout Award from the Mason-Griffith Founders Chapter of Trout Unlimited at a meeting in January.  This was for his support of work on the Au Sable River.

Paige Kleindl, graduate student working with Al Steinman, and Molly Lane, graduate student working with Rick Rediske, each received an Air & Waste Management Association Graduate Fellowship grant in the amount of $2000.

Carl Ruetz and Al Steinman received a sub-award in the amount of $21,838 from West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission for a project titled: Integrating Science and Restoration in Muskegon Lake Habitat Focus Area.

Al Steinman received a grant in the amount of $2,000 from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County to be used in presenting the collaboration called “Raising water awareness through science, music, and dance”. The money will be used as payment for rental of The Block for the world premiere.

Kevin Strychar received a sub-award in the amount $8,000 from Michigan Technological University for a project titled: Independent Risk Analysis for the Straits Pipeline.

Kevin Strychar received an award in the amount of $96,007 from Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for a project titled: Development of rapid assessment methods for agriculture crop pathogens using Image Flow Cytometry: one year pilot project.

AWRI In the News

“Local partners developing real-time watershed monitoring system for Project Clarity”
Cision, PR Web February 1, 2018
AWRI is mentioned as a Project Clarity partner, dealing with water quality in the Lake Macatawa watershed.
Also picked up by: Times Union 2/1/18; NewsEdge.com 2/1/18; Khaleej Times 2/2/18

“Could Great Lakes fungi and Cheerios lead to cancer cure?”
Great Lakes Echo (a publication of Michigan State University), February 5, 2018
The article is about Mark Luttenton’s work for National Institute of Health finding fungi at the bottom of Lake Michigan, which is being tested as a cancer cure.
Also picked up by: Capital News Services 2/2/18; Urban Milwaukee 2/7/18

“Battling biofouling while chronicling ecosystem changes in a freshwater estuary”
EOS: Earth & Space Science News, February 7, 2018
Bopi Biddanda is pictured with a piece of equipment covered in mussels and bryozoans.  He and his lab members were pulling the Muskegon Lake Buoy out of the water for the winter.

LMC Events

Feb 6
The Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership held a public meeting in the Lake Michigan Center.

Feb 9
Seminar Speaker: Dr. Tim Davis, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University presented: “Why are our lakes the same color as our lawns?  Understanding the role of eutrophication and climate change in promoting Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (CHABs)”  

Feb 13
The Muskegon Lake Habitat Focus Area held a meeting at the Lake Michigan Center.

Feb 23
The Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame held a meeting at the Lake Michigan Center.

Feb 26
GVSU Health & Wellness held the “Know Your Numbers Screening” at the Lake Michigan Center.