INCOMING GRADUATE STUDENTS AT AWRI

Graduate students are an integral part of our mission at the Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI). We welcome these new graduate students joining us this fall.

Kaylynne Dennis grew up in Muskegon, Michigan and completed her B.A. in Zoology with dual emphases on Marine Biology and Ecology, Evolution, and the Organismal body from Michigan State University. She is now pursuing her M.S. degree in Biology with an emphasis on Aquatic Sciences in Dr. Biddanda’s lab and will be studying plankton metabolism in Muskegon Lake.

Jillian Greene is from Holland, Michigan and graduated with her B.S. in Environmental and Sustainability studies with an emphasis on Water Resources from GVSU in December 2022. After graduation, she did a project term with the NASA DEVELOP program in Laramie, Wyoming remote sensing and modeling sources of sediment plumes in the Shoshone River. She is now pursuing her M.S. in Aquatic Science and will be working with Dr. Sean Woznicki using satellite remote sensing and modeling of aquatic ecosystems.

Mitchell Olszewski is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and earned his B.A in Biology and Environmental Studies from Western Michigan University. After completing his degree, he went into the workforce at Professional Lake and Land Management as a Herbicide Applicator for Invasive Species and a Right-of-Way Manager for Invasive Species. He then took another job as a Freshwater Specialist at Cygnet Enterprises, where public organizations and private citizens come and ask for advice on how to counteract aquatic invasive species. He is pursuing his M.S. degree working with Dr. Kevin Strychar and will be using biological markers to test E. coli sources, and sinks.

Renée Tardani has been a lifelong resident of Muskegon County and obtained her B.S. in Biology and Biomedical Sciences from Grand Valley State University in 2018. Prior to joining AWRI, she spent time working in clinical and laboratory settings. In 2020, she began working in the Partridge Lab on hemlock woolly adelgids as a call-in technician and has worked at AWRI in both the Rediske and Partridge Labs as an adjunct research technician. Her graduate thesis with Dr. Charlyn Partridge focuses on molecular assessment of cyanobacteria population dynamics in recreational waters in Muskegon County.

Michael Trapp grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and earned his B.S. with a focus in Biology and Studio Art from Western Michigan University. After obtaining his degree, he worked for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Division conducting research on wild juvenile salmonids within the Grande Ronde River Basin. He returned to Michigan to study a variety of threatened and endangered fish species for The Little Traverse Bay Bands. Michael is currently pursuing his M.S. with an emphasis in Aquatic Sciences and will be working with Dr. Mark Luttenton investigating brook trout and brown trout survival in the Au Sable River.

Victoria Vander Stelt was raised in Spring Arbor, Michigan and earned her B.S. in Biology from Spring Arbor University. While an undergrad, she worked as a research assistant at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. Her research focused on oil well pad reforestation and Kirtland’s Warbler nesting habits. After graduation, Victoria was a research assistant at the Annis Water Resources Institute in the Ruetz Lab working on the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Project and surveying habitat for potential Arctic Grayling reintroduction. Most recently, she worked in John Ball Zoo’s Research and Conservation Department conducting studies on a variety of species including the Spotted Turtle and Poweshiek Skipperling. She is currently pursuing her M.S. degree working with Dr. Mark Luttenton on the North Branch of the Au Sable River studying resident trout populations. 

 

FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES

August Activities

The schedules for DJ Angus and the WG Jackson was relatively light (as is typical for this time of year) but did include some less traditional groups and new partnerships: WMU hydrology course, MSU 4H group, CLAS Student Advising office, WMEAC and Boys and Girls Club of Muskegon, Nelson Neighborhood Improvement Association, a contingent of women scientists from the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education, and Wisdom Homeschool.

AWRI Science Instructors attended the Macatawa Water Festival in Holland on August 12.

Christina Catanese and Amanda Syers attended the Groundswell Advisory Council quarterly meeting on August 15.

Christina Catanese attended the National Association of Marine Laboratories Education Committee meeting on August 18.

Sarah Hamsher attended the 29th Annual GVSU Fall Conference on Teaching in Learning on August 23 in Grand Rapids.

Charlyn Partridge attended the Sturgeon Release Ceremony organized by the Gun Lake Tribe on August 30^th. They released 100 juvenile sturgeons into the Kalamazoo River. Her lab also helped them pit tag all the individuals and collected fin clips for genetic analysis. Her lab will be receiving fin clips from Little River Band of Ottawa Indians from their 2023 sampling for genetic analysis.

Carl Ruetz’s Lab finished sampling the Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

Carl Ruetz was elected the North Central Representative of the Education Section of the American Fisheries Society. This is a 2-year term.

Al Steinman attended several development meetings and events for the AWRI Campaign.

Al Steinman attended committee meetings for Goodwill Industries and West Michigan Symphony.

Al Steinman was invited to join NOAA’s Science Advisory Board Ecosystem Work Group.

Al Steinman reviewed manuscripts for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Science, Water, and Science of the Total Environment.

Al Steinman reviewed grant proposal for Swiss National Science Foundation.

Amanda Syers attended the annual state coordinator Project WET conference in Cleveland from August 7-11.

Amanda Syers attended the Strong Start Teaching Institute at GVSU on August 16 and 17.

September Activities 

Students in the Design Thinking for Social Product Innovation course offered through the Frederick Meijer Honors College, visited AWRI on September 13. The students toured the labs and W.G. Jackson and learned about AWRI’s mission and history. The visit included presentations by Dr. Al Steinman (“Controlling Phosphorus”), Dr. Bopi Biddanda (“Water Stories from the Biosphere”), and Jamie Cross (“Be-Bot and Pixie drone project”).

Leaders from PBS stations from across the country visited AWRI for a cruise on the W.G. Jackson on September 14 as a part of the 2023 National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) Conference & Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Public Media Thought Leader Forum.  Dr. Al Steinman gave a presentation during their visit. The group also viewed a demonstration of the Be-Bot at Pere Marquette Beach. AWRI partnered with WGVU, the GVSU College of Education and Community Innovation, and the Lakeshore Museum Center for this event. 

AWRI Science Instructors attended the Grand Rapids Public Museum Grand River Adventure on September 16.

The Biddanda lab continues working on Muskegon Lake and Lake Huron research projects.

Bopi Biddanda gave a lab tour of AWRI and a talk on the role of water in the biosphere to visiting GV Honors Design Thinking class. September 13, 2023.

Bopi Biddanda announced the next round of Request for Proposals from the NASA-Michigan Space Grant Consortium to the GV- Community. Bopi coordinates MSGC activities at GV and is GV’s representative to MSGC.

Christina Catanese attended the Groundswell Professional Development planning meeting on September 18.

Sarah Hamsher joined a yearlong GVSU Learning Community focused on how to incorporate undergraduate research into courses.

Sarah Hamsher added Ryan Ruppert, Sofia Martinez, and Brett Vincent to her lab this semester. They will be developing projects associated with the NSF-sponsored Rhopalodiales project for them to work on throughout this year.

Sarah Hamsher is teaching BIO 121 - General Biology II and BIO 376 - Genetics Laboratory this fall.

The Luttenton lab continued to track radio-tagged trout in the North Branch Au Sable River.

The Luttenton lab continued to monitor ecological conditions in Higgins Lake.

Mark Luttenton surveyed possible study sites with new graduate student, Alyssa Smith.

Mark Luttenton conducted electrofishing training for the Anglers of the Au Sable.

Mark Luttenton participated in the monthly meeting of Graduate Program Directors.

Mark Luttenton attended the bi-weekly meeting of CLAS unit heads.

Mark Luttenton attended the quarterly meeting of the Anglers of the Au Sable Board of Directors.

Mark Luttenton met with consultants evaluating how GVSU can become more active in the community.

Mark Luttenton is teaching BIO 532 - Advanced Aquatic Ecology.

Mark Luttenton is teaching half of the BIO 440-540 labs - Limnology.

Mark Luttenton is teaching WAT 545 - Theoretical Perspective in Aquatic Science.

Mark Luttenton presented a day-long program on the current status of Higgins Lake to a Girl Scout Troup from Lansing.

The Partridge lab finished the qPCR analysis of eDNA traps for HWA and detected a 3^rd potential infestation in high-risk hemlock areas. They have contacted their partners to let them know.

Charlyn Partridge worked on a MISGP proposal to continue the HWA monitoring and potentially expand that work to monitor Beech Leaf Disease. She met with the BLD working group on Sept 25^th to see if there would be interest in trying the eDNA traps.

Charlyn Partridge attended the North Central Forest Pest Workshop in Wisconsin from Sept 11-14 and gave a talk on her eDNA work. There was a lot of interest in potentially using it for community monitoring.

The Ruetz Lab conducted fish surveys in Muskegon Lake on Sept. 14-17 and Lake Macatawa on Sept. 21-24 as part of long-term monitoring efforts. Additionally, they conducted a backpack electrofishing survey of Black Creek.

Carl Ruetz is working with collaborators at Purdue University and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to conduct pilot studies this winter to investigate Yellow Perch movements in Muskegon Lake and Lake Charlevoix using telemetry.

Carl Ruetz is teaching BIO362 - Biology and Diversity of Fishes.

Carl Ruetz attended the Youth Day: Sportsman for Youth at the Muskegon County fairgrounds, where he represented the Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences program at GVSU’s Natural Resources booth on Saturday, Sept. 9. Carl provided outreach about the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative. The event was well attended.

Carl Ruetz is planning a WG Jackson cruise for Monday, Oct. 2. The event is targeted at Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences majors as well as undergraduates in other majors broadly interested in aquatic sciences. The goals of the event are to provide students with an opportunity for experiential learning, build comradery among students interested in aquatic sciences, and advertise research opportunities and summer internships to students.

The Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Club conducted an assessment of fishes and mussels in Crockery Creek on Sept. 23-24. This was a student-led effort in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The Steinman lab continues their mesocosm study that is part of an EPA project.

The Steinman lab continues sampling for several projects, such as:  Bear Lake monitoring, Mona Lake celery flat restoration project, Muskegon Lake long-term monitoring, and Little Black Lake.

Al Steinman attended the National Academy of Sciences Everglades Oversight Committee in Ft. Lauderdale Sept. 26-28.

Al Steinman attended the following community meetings for the month of September: The West Michigan Symphony and Goodwill Industries.

Al Steinman was invited to join NOAA’s Science Advisory Board Ecosystem Work Group.

Al Steinman reviewed manuscripts for Energies; Frontiers in Environmental Science; and Science of the Total Environment.

Kevin Strychar was elected by community vote to serve on the Muskegon Conservations Board of Directors.

Kevin Strychar is teaching BIO105 - Environmental Science this fall semester.

Amanda Syers is teaching ENS 183 - Sustainability as a Lifestyle this semester with Janet Vail.

Presentations and Publications

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:

Biddanda,B. A., M. Villar-Argaiz and J. M. Medina-Sanchez (2023). Protecting the Mountain Water Towers of Spain’s Sierra Nevada. Eos, American Geophysical Union. P. 18-21. September 2023. https://eos.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Sept23.pdf

Dennis, K.**, K. McKee*, C. Gabel, and B. Biddanda (2023). Carbon at the Center of the Climate Crisis. A book review of The Carbon Almanac: It’s Not too Late by Seth Godin, Penguin Books, 2022, pp. 331.
InterChange, Connections for STEM Classroom, 30 (3), September 2023
https://www.gvsu.edu/rmsc/interchange/2023-september-stem-connections-1744.htm

McGovern, C. A., A. Norwich, A. Thomas, S. Hamsher, B. Biddanda, A. Weinke and D. Casamatta.  2023. Unbiased analyses of ITS folding motifs in a taxonomically confusing lineage: Anagnostidimema visiae sp. nov. (cyanobacteria). J. Phycol. DOI: 10.1111/jpy.13337
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpy.13337

McKee, K.* and B. Biddanda (2023). To solve the world’s water crisis, revalue water as a global commons. A report review of Turning the Tide: A call to Collective Action by M. Mazzucato, N. Okonjo-Iweala, J. Rockström, and T. Shanmugaratnam, Global Commission on the Economics of Water. p. 32. Lakes Letter, International Association for Great Lakes Research), Summer 2023, p. 16.

Gerig, B. S., Chaloner, D. T., Rediske, R. R., Paterson, G., & Lamberti, G. A. (2023). Pacific salmon as vectors of environmental contaminants: An experimental test confirms synoptic surveys in natural streams. Environmental Pollution, 336, 122355.

Molloseau, J. * and A.D. Steinman. In Press. Chloride and phosphorus retention in salt-contaminated soils. Journal of Freshwater Ecology.

Cheng, C., Steinman, A.D., Xue, Q. and Xie, L. In Press, Microcystin LR (MC-LR) causes disruption of calcium and hydrogen homeostasis of Vallisneria natans (Lour.) leaves. Water Resources. 

Hart, J.** J., Jamison, M. N., Porter, A. M., McNair, J. N., Szlag, D. C., & Rediske, R. R. (2023). Fecal Impairment Framework, A New Conceptual Framework for Assessing Fecal Contamination in Recreational Waters. Environmental Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4225064

Presentations:

The Ruetz Lab (Ruetz, Silverhart, Hoyt, Yingling, and Lawrence) attended the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Grand Rapids, Michigan the week of August 20-24. Carl co-organized a symposium at the conference titled: Habitat Heterogeneity in Lake Michigan: Implications for Food Webs, Fish, and Fisheries.

Additionally, other AWRI presentations given at the conference were as follows (grad student: *; undergrad student: **):

• Silverhart*, M., C. Ruetz, M. Cooper, & D. Uzarski. Fish assemblage structure in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. Oral presentation, August 21.
• Euclide, P., X. Yin, D. Clapp, C. Ruetz, T. Hook, & M. Christie. Genome-wide differences between drowned river mouth and main-basin Lake Michigan Yellow Perch. Oral presentation, August 21.
• Vander Stelt*, N., C. Ruetz, D. Mays, B. Fessell, & C. Goble. Factors influencing reintroduction potential for Arctic Grayling in a Michigan watershed. Oral presentation, August 23.
• Hoyt*, T., & C. Ruetz. Spatial variation of profundal fish assemblages in Lake Michigan drowned river mouths. Poster presentation, August 21.
• Ruetz, C. Fish use of drowned river mouths: a transitional habitat in Lake Michigan. Oral presentation, August 24.
• Yingling**, J., T. Hoyt*, & C. Ruetz. Temporal effects of preservation on the morphology and size of Yellow Perch. Poster presentation, August 21.
• Poling, W., D. Finnegan, T. Hoyt*, C. Ruetz, & D. Bloom. Functional trait differences between migratory and non-migratory Perca flaescens (Yellow Perch). Poster presentation, August 21.

 

Matthew Silverhart gave a presentation on fish assemblages in Great Lakes coastal wetlands as part of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Workshop on Tuesday, Sept. 12 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Al Steinman gave a presentation and led a tour and cruise on the WG Jackson Research Vessel to a Leadership group for the AWRI campaign on August 15^th.

Al Steinman provided comments at the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup on Pere Marquette Beach on Sept. 8^th.

Al Steinman gave a Phosphorus overview to Design Thinking Class at AWRI on Sept. 13^th.

Al Steinman gave a presentation on Muskegon Restoration projects to the National Educational Telecommunications Association at AWRI on Sept. 14^th.

Al Steinman presented the US EPA’s Great Lakes Advisory Board (GLAB)’s climate resilience work group findings at a virtual public meeting on September 18th.

Al Steinman gave an AWRI overview to the Grand Rapids Rotary Club in Grand Rapids on Sept. 24th.

Sean Woznicki in partnership with the University of Oklahoma is a co-principal investigator on a proposal titled “The potential of no-tillage farming to conserve water and offset the negative effects of future heat stress on agricultural production.”  The proposal was submitted to the USDA NIFA Foundational and Applied Science program. 

Sean Woznicki prepared a 1-page “Land Use Change Science in Action” document for NASA Headquarters, as requested by the NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change program manager. 

Sean Woznicki attended the Bio Grad Program committee meeting on Sept. 15. 

Grants, Contracts, Awards, and Recognition

Ryan Otter is co-PI on newly funded NSF grant: Beginnings: Creating and Sustaining a Diverse Community of Expertise in Quantum Information Science (EQUIS) Across the Southeastern United States. Joint venture between five Universities; ~$1,000,000 over 3 years

Al Steinman received another year of funding with the Outdoor Discovery Center.

No awards or recognitions at this time.

 

AWRI News and Events

AWRI IN THE NEWS

“Check out Floating litter-picker-upper while helping cleanup Muskegon Lake”
MLive, August 16, 2023
MUSKEGON, MI – A cleanup of Heritage Landing on Muskegon Lake on Wednesday will include a demonstration of a remote-controlled litter collection device.
Check out floating litter-picker-upper while helping clean up Muskegon Lake

“GVSU’s ‘Pixie Drone’ collects plastic from waterways”
Wood TV 8, August 16, 2023
MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute showcased its Pixie Drone Wednesday in Muskegon.

LMC EVENTS

August Events

Aug. 4 - Student Intern Presentations/Diversity Potluck (12:00 pm – 2:00 pm)

Aug. 7 - West MI Symphony – Governance Com. (10:00 am – 12:00 pm)

Aug. 9 - Academic Advising – Preprofessional Team Retreat (8:00 am – 5:00 pm)

Aug. 15 - University Development Event

September Events

Sept. 11 - West Michigan Symphony Governance Committee Meeting (10:00-11:00 am)

Sept. 12 – Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership (12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)

Sept. 14 – National Educational Telecommunications Association (9:30 am – 2:30 pm)

Sept. 19 – President’s Office Visit (1:00-2:30 pm)

Sept. 21 – Friends of the Pentwater River Watershed (3:30 pm)

Sept. 22 – Wet Lab Staff Meeting (10:00 - 11:00 am)

Sept. 22 – Seminar (2:00 – 3:00 pm)

Sept. 29 – Wet Lab Staff Meeting (10:00-11:00 am)