Incoming Graduate Students at AWRI

Graduate students are a vital and critical part of our mission at the Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI). We welcome the 6 new graduate students joining us this fall.

Maggie Petersen is from the Traverse City, MI area and earned her B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a minor in Program in the Environment from the University of Michigan in 2012. After graduating, she worked in nonprofit science education and outreach before starting at Great Lakes Environmental Center in Traverse City in 2015 where she has since worked as a toxicology laboratory technician working on WET and sediment testing, as well as a field technician working on the US EPA National Aquatic Resources Survey. Maggie is pursuing a MS in Biology with aquatic emphasis.  She is working with Dr. Charlyn Partridge; her project will focus on the effects that ingesting toxicant-laden microplastics have on fish microbial gut communities using 16s amplicon sequencing. 

Alexis Porter was born in Ohio, but grew up in Nashville, Tennessee around Vanderbilt University. She eventually moved to Muskegon, Michigan to be with family and has been here for the entirety of her college career. She received her undergraduate degree from Grand Valley State University in Biomedical Sciences and did undergraduate research with E. coli 0157:H7. She is now a second-year student in the Master of Public Health Epidemiology program at GVSU.  In her free time, she plays soccer, enjoys reading, and taking her dog to the beach and on hikes. She is working with Rick Rediske and has assisted with the Beach Monitoring program.  She is currently working on the Pigeon River project with the Ottawa County Conservation district, and will also be assisting with the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater sampling project throughout the fall. In the future, she plans to continue research in epidemiology around infectious disease. She hopes to lift barriers in social determinants of health within populations that can be solved through advancements in population surveillance and health interventions, as well as environmental health interventions that can promote community health through environmental protection. 

Ellen Foley is from Elmhurst, Illinois (a Chicago Suburb).  She received a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Data Science from the University of Notre Dame.  At Notre Dame, she was an undergraduate researcher in the Stream and Wetland Ecology Lab (SWEL) and was part of the field crew for the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program.  She is currently working on her M.S. in Biology with a concentration in aquatic sciences degree, at GVSU, and is working in Al Steinman’s lab.  Her thesis work will focus on assessing the impact of road salt runoff on an urban lake in Grand Rapids, which has resulted in very high concentrations of phosphorus and chloride; her results will help inform a management approach to restoration. 

Nicholas (Nick) Vander Stelt was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He completed his B.S. in Environmental Biology with a focus in Aquatic Science at Spring Arbor University.  While working towards his undergraduate degree, he also worked with the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies with macroinvertebrates and dam removal; interned with the MDNR Fisheries Division; worked as a seasonal Lake Sturgeon employee for the MDNR and Gun Lake Tribe; and conducted road stream crossing work with the Ottawa Conservation District. He currently is enrolled in GVSU’s M.S. in Biology program with an emphasis in aquatic science.  Dr. Carl Ruetz is his advisor and his thesis work will focus on evaluating the ecological condition of the Boardman River watershed in the context of Artic Grayling Restoration. This work is funded and will be conducted in collaboration with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The research focus will include two major components:  abiotic variables which will be assessed following the MDNR's Stream Status and Trends Program; and biotic variables will be collected by backpack electrofishing surveys. 

Jonathan Walt is from Jenison, Michigan and completed his B.S. at Calvin University in Grand Rapids. He majored in Biology and minored in Greek. In his spare time, he likes to go biking, look for plants, and play the piano. He is working in Sean Woznicki’s lab and is looking at satellite imaging of wetland inundation and connectivity. 

Nate Dugener is originally from Muskegon, Michigan. He attended Loyola University Chicago for his B.S. degree in Environmental Science. Nate will pursue a M.S. in Biology with a focus in aquatic science degree at GVSU. Dr. Bopi Biddanda will be Nate’s advisor, and his research will focus on the effects of phosphorus on hypoxia in Muskegon Lake.

Bopi Biddanda attended the all-day Executive Board meeting of MSGC on August 19th. Bopi administers NASA Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) programs at GVSU. He serves on the board of MSGC and is GVSU’s affiliate representative to MSGC.

Sarah Hamsher is teaching BIO 121, Introduction to Biology and BIO 376, Genetics, lab this fall.

Jasmine Mancuso, graduate student who worked with Bopi Biddanda, was recently highlighted in the IAGLR Lakes Letter, Summer 2020 issue, regarding the current pandemic and its effect on her life, as she was in the process of finishing her coursework and writing her final thesis.  The publication also acknowledged that she successfully defended her master’s thesis.

Jim McNair is teaching BIO 580, Technology in Modeling Bio Systems, this fall.

Charlyn Partridge is teaching BIO 376, Genetics, lab this fall.

Charlyn Partridge and Maggie Petersen, her new graduate student, will be working with Rick Rediske on the wastewater COVID monitoring program that is to begin in October.

Rick Rediske represented the Wolverine Community Advisory Group meeting on September 17^th in a webinar and provided public comment on groundwater workplans.

Carl Ruetz is teaching BIO 362, Fisheries Biology, lecture and lab this fall.

Carl Ruetz attended American Fisheries Society Book Editorial Committee Meeting on September 8^th.

Al Steinman has been asked to be part of the planning committee for the 2021 Great Lakes Areas of Concern conference to be held in Muskegon tentatively in early May 2021.

Al Steinman is teaching BIO 651, Emerging Issues in Water Resources, this fall.

Al Steinman attended (virtually) the monthly Joint Aquatic Science Meeting (JASM) planning committee on August 20th. JASM is scheduled to be held in Grand Rapids, in May 2022.

Al Steinman attended (virtually) the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Great Lakes Advisory Board on August 27th.

Kevin Strychar will be teaching BIO 105, Environmental Science, this fall.

Janet Vail and Amanda Syers are teaching ENS 183, Sustainability as a Lifestyle, lecture this fall.

Janet Vail was involved in the online Groundswell Summer Institute on August 4th and August 6th.

Janet Vail virtually attended the Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership meeting on August 4th.

Janet Vail attended a Groundswell Professional Development Committee meeting on August 10th and a Groundswell Strategic Action Council meeting on August 19th.

Janet Vail, Amanda Syers, and Elena Lioubimtseva facilitated two teacher workshops for the MiRCLE (Michigan Resources on Climate and Change Education) project about teaching climate change and land use. This is funded by Michigan Space Grant. The workshops were on August 11th and 13th.

Janet Vail virtually attended the NOAA Great Lakes Water Levels and Stormwater meeting on August 13th.

Janet Vail participated in the 2020 Lake Michigan Day conference convened by the Lake Michigan Stakeholders in Wisconsin on August 14th.

Janet Vail virtually attended Lake Michigan Day hosted by the Lake Michigan Stakeholders on August 14th.

Janet Vail participated in a National Association of Marine Labs (NAML) Education Committee meeting on August 14th.

Janet Vail virtually attended the University of Connecticut teacher webinar “Impacts of Climate Change on Long Island Sound” on August 18th.

Janet Vail continues to follow the progress of Organization of Biological Field Station (OBFS) project; they are creating Ecosystem Exploration videos on freshwater, marine, and terrestrial habitats videos. Current work of the Freshwater Habitats Team includes a comparison of headwater, wadeable, and boatable streams. An example video is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0adZ_kZpffg

Janet Vail participated in a National Association of Marine Labs (NAML) Education Committee meeting on September 11^th.

Janet Vail participated in MIT’s En-ROADS Air Quality Module webinar, World Wildlife Federation’s Climate Change webinar on September 15^th.

Janet Vail virtually attended a meeting of the Vessel-based Education Network hosted by Michigan Sea Grant on September 15^th. The Inland Seas Education group gave an update on their virtual offerings as well their sailing season.

Janet Vail virtually attended the annual meeting of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education on September 16^th.

Janet Vail participated in a GLOBE U.S. Partner Forum meeting on September 17^th.

Janet Vail participated in a NASA education resources webinar on September 17^th.

Janet Vail virtually attended the annual conference of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) on September 17^th and 18^th.

Janet Vail attended a Groundswell Strategic Action Council meeting on September 21^st.

Janet Vail and Amanda Syers hosted a teacher climate conversation event on September 23^rd.  This is part of the MiRCLE (Michigan Resources on Climate and Change Education) program sponsored by Michigan Space Grant project.

Sean Woznicki is teaching GPY 100, Physical and Environmental Geography, lecture this fall.

Sean Woznicki met with Paul Sachs and Matt Chappuies from the Ottawa County Planning Department and Chad Frederick (GVSU-Geography) to discuss future county development scenarios in light of groundwater challenges.

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 had an article featured in AGU’s Postcards from the Field:
Biddanda, B. (2020). Lake observing science continues in a pandemic. Postcard from the Field, Eos, American Geophysical Union (August 2020).
https://americangeophysicalunion.tumblr.com/tagged/postcardsfromthefield

Brandon Harris, former graduate student who worked with Carl Ruetz, and others from AWRI are co-authors of an article in Journal of Applied Ichthyology:
Harris, B.S.**, Ruetz, C.R., Ellens, T.J.**, Weinke, A.D.,** and Biddanda, B.A. 2020. Adult lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque, 1817) occurrence in the Muskegon river system, a Lake Michigan drowned river mouth, USA. J. Applied Ichthyology 36: 547-558. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jai.14076

Sarah Lamar, graduate student who worked with Charlyn Partridge, has an article published in Biological Invasions, based on her thesis work. Charlyn is a co-author.
Lamar, S.K.**, and Partridge, C.G. 2020. Combining herbarium databases with genetic methods to evaluate the invasion status of Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila paniculata) in North America. Biological Invasions. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02354-x (https://rdcu.be/b6NFn).

Hailee Leimbach-Maus, graduate student who worked with Charlyn Partridge, has an article published in the journal Plants, based on her thesis work.  Charlyn and others are co-authors:
Leimbach-Maus, H.**, McCluskey, E., Locher, A., Parks, S.R., and Partridge, C.G. 2020. Genetic structure of invasive baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata) populations in a Michigan dune system. Plants. 9(9): 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9091123.

Ian Stone, undergraduate student working with Bopi Biddanda, was lead author of a book review published in the GVSU Regional Math and Science Center’s monthly newsletter InterChange:
Stone, I.*, Mancuso, J.**, Dugener, N.**, Weinke, A.**, and Biddanda, B. 2020. Future choice – now! A book review of “The future we choose: surviving the climate crisis” by C. Figueres and T. Rivet. InterChange, September 2020.

Presentations

Tyler Harman, graduate student working with Kevin Strychar, defended his MS thesis on August 28th.

Hailey Kuhnle, undergraduate who worked with Carl Ruetz, presented at the GVSU Student Summer Scholars (S³) Showcase on September 10^th. The title of her talk was “Evaluating an environmental gradient along eastern Lake Michigan. Megan Mader and Carl were co-authors of Hailey’s presentation.

Jasmine Mancuso gave a virtual presentation at the Michigan Inland Lakes Convention on September 16^th.
Mancuso, J.**, Weinke, A.**, Stone, I.*, Hamsher, S., Woller-Skar, M., Snyder, E., and Biddanda, B. Bloom or bust: long- and short-term drivers of cyanobacterial blooms in Muskegon Lake – a Great Lakes estuary. 2020 Michigan Inland Lakes Convention: Conserving Lakes in a Changing Environment (September 16^th – 18^th). https://www.canr.msu.edu/michiganlakes/convention/

Jim McNair gave a virtual presentation titled “Some useful sampling and statistical methods for assessing potential abundance changes in aquatic plant surveys” as part of the Michigan Inland Lakes Convention on September 18^th.

Charlyn Partridge gave a virtual presentation titled “Assessing the genetic relationship of wild rice populations in Michigan” for a panel discussion titled “Virtual Lunch and Learn: Working to Bring Back Wild Rice”, hosted by Pierce Cedar Creek Institute on September 18^th.

Al Steinman gave a virtual presentation to the Lansing Rotary Club on August 26th. The presentation was titled: The Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources: Knowns and Unknowns.

Al Steinman gave a webinar titled “Understanding Internal Loading” as part of the “Understanding and Managing Internal Phosphorus Loading in Lakes” webinar sponsored by the New England Chapter of the North American Lake Management Society on September 30^th. 

No awards for August and September.  Please check back next month.

The Rediske lab received a sub-award from Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited chapter to provide assistance on their Coldwater River Watershed Management Plan 319 project.  The award is for $3,252.

Rick Rediske is working on a major grant opportunity to conduct SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in wastewater. His lab is working with both Public Health Muskegon County and the Ottawa County Health Department to monitor locations in both counties. The grant is for a pilot study that will run from October 1^st - December 30^th, 2020, and include samples from GVSU’s Allendale Campus. The grant will include a $200K Digital Droplet PCR. Charlyn Partridge and Kevin Strychar will be Co-PIs. They are also working with Mark Staves, Shelia Blackman, Pei-Lan Tsou from GVSU’s Cell and Molecular Biology Department to set up an extraction and preparation lab in CHS to process the Allendale Campus samples. This is the largest pilot study of its kind in the U.S.; 15 Michigan labs will be participating in the study.

The Steinman lab received a contract from Newaygo County for a project titled: Hess, Brooks, and Pickerel Lakes Board Muck-Digesting Bacteria Pellets project. It is a contract for $25,000.

The Steinman lab is part of a successful grant application with the Allegan County Conservation District to MDNR titled: Green Lake Cisco Protection. The grant is for $135,000, with $51,000 coming to AWRI.

Kevin Strychar has obtained $4,000 in funding from Coastal Preservation Network (CPN) to work on coral manuscripts.

AWRI In The News

August 2020

“GVSU, Muskegon County and EGLE celebrate 20 years of water quality testing on state beaches”
GVNext (a publication of Grand Valley State University), July 31, 2020
AWRI’s Rediske Lab is mentioned as a partner in monitoring Muskegon area beaches.  Rick Rediske was quoted regarding E. coli testing methods.
This article was also carried by:
www.michigan.gov, August 11, 2020

“GVSU research: Restoration of Muskegon Lake increases home values by $7.9 million, additional recreation benefits total nearly $29 million annually”
GVNext, August 11, 2020
AWRI has been involved in various projects related to the restoration of Muskegon Lake.

Rep. Huizenga: GVSU study shows massive economic benefits for Muskegon County from Great Lakes restoration efforts”
NewsEdge, Targeted News Service, August 12, 2020
AWRI has been involved in various projects related to the restoration of Muskegon Lake.
This article was also carried by:
WKTV Journal, August 11, 2020
State News Service, August 11, 2020
Foreign Affairs.co.nz, August 11, 2020
Congressional Documents & Publications, August 11, 2020

“Study: 2011 Muskegon Lake environmental restoration project improves housing and recreation values”
WGVU News, August 12, 2020
AWRI has been involved in various projects related to the restoration of Muskegon Lake. 

“Is Trump exploiting Great Lakes to win swing states?”
Grand Haven Tribune, August 21, 2020
Al Steinman is quoted regarding the newly reinstated Great Lakes Advisory Board, of which he is currently a member.

“2020 SNAPSHOTS - Adapting during the coronavirus pandemic: Member Profile”
Lakes Letter 2020, summer edition (a publication of International Association for Great Lakes Research), August 25, 2020
Jasmine Mancuso, AWRI Graduate Student working with Bopi Biddanda, was featured sharing her pandemic story.
https://iaglr.org/ll/2020-3-Summer_LL6.pdf

September 2020

“Muskegon Lake nears recovery after years of restoration”
NOAA Fisheries (newsletter), September 2, 2020
This article lists many restoration projects that have aided in the restoration of Muskegon Lake.  AWRI is named as supporting ecological monitoring for many of these projects.

“Flower Creek pig CAFO put on notice in newest review”
News Break, shorelinemedia.net, September 3, 2020
Rick Rediske is mentioned as a provider of an environmental study of Big Flower Creek.

“Grand Valley State University researchers add new findings in the area of plant research”
NewsEdge, Life Science Research – Plant Research, September 16, 2020
The article discusses recent article published in the journal Plants.  Former graduate student Hailee Leimbach-Maus was lead author of an article about Baby’s Breath (based on her thesis project), AWRI personnel Charlyn Partridge and Syndell Parks were named as co-authors.

“Reports on invasive species from Grand Valley State University provide new insights (Examining the molecular mechanisms contributing to the success of an invasive species across different ecosystems)”
NewsEdge, Ecology Daily News, September 17, 2020
Hailee Leimbach-Maus was lead author of an article about Baby’s Breath (based on her thesis project), AWRI personnel Charlyn Partridge and Syndell Parks were named as co-authors.

“In perpetuity: toxic Great Lakes sites will require attention for generations to come”
greatlakesnow.org, September 21, 2020
Rick Rediske is interviewed about his thoughts on capping contaminated areas of a river.

“Muskegon Lake poised to leave EPA ‘Area of Concern’, a Great Lakes environmental milestone.”
MLive, September 22, 2020
AWRI was involved in ecological monitoring for many of the restoration projects on Muskegon Lake.

“From the Air Force to Fisheries, a former NOAA veteran intern’s career path in science”
NOAA Fisheries (newsletter), September 25, 2020
Barney Boyer, former graduate student who worked with Mark Luttenton, was highlighted in the article.

LMC Events

On August 7, 2020, the summer interns gave presentations on their summer projects to AWRI staff, students and fellow interns.

This fall semester, GVSU BIO 651, Emerging Issues lectures are being held at AWRI in the classroom.