About AWRI

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The Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI) is a multidisciplinary research organization within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

(CLAS) committed to the study of freshwater resources. The mission of the Institute is to integrate research, education, and outreach to enhance and preserve freshwater resources. Please visit our Stategic Plan.

AWRI seeks to accomplish this mission through:

• Research into major questions about our water resources, including: ecosystem structure and function; contaminants and toxicology; hydrology; land use; watershed, stream, and wetland ecology; water quality; and basic and applied limnology.
• Public education for a variety of groups, including K-12, university students, and the community.
• Outreach to ensure that decision makers are equipped with the best available knowledge on environmental and water resource-related issues, to reduce the uncertainty associated with their resource management decisions.

The Institute occupies the Lake Michigan Center on Muskegon Lake in Muskegon, MI. Facilities include classrooms, conference areas, analytical labs, research labs, mesocosms, dockage, and ship support and storage. AWRI also promotes collaborative research and educational programming and offers research space and equipment, as well as ship support facilities to advance such collaborative efforts. AWRI operates its own research vessels, the D.J. Angus and the W.G. Jackson, and offers the Water Resources Outreach Education Program for K-12 schools and community groups.

The Institute consists of three main programmatic areas:

1. The Ecological Research Program, which consists of environmental biology and environmental chemistry groups, addresses questions about water resources, hydrology, watershed ecology and management, environmental chemistry and toxicology, aquatic ecosystem structure and function, aquatic conservation, land use change, pollution prevention, and aquatic food webs.
2. The Information Services Center, which uses state-of-the-art Geographic Information Services technology to collect and analyze data, and condense it into useful information for those who make critical decisions about natural resource management
3. The Education and Outreach Program, which includes the use of the AWRI's two research vessels, and provides scientific information to K-12 students, policymakers, educators, college students, and community groups.

Grand Valley students and faculty have the opportunity to participate in AWRI activities as volunteers, paid assistants, interns, research associates, or graduate students.

Webmaster: Mary Ogdahl - ogdahlm@gvsu.edu