AWRI director picked for international role

Al Steinman, director of Grand Valley State University's Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, has been appointed by the International Joint Commission to a three-year term as a member of the Public Interest Advisory Group. His role is to provide advice and engage public involvement in the commission’s Upper Great Lakes Study.

The five-year study will seek to determine whether the regulation of Lake Superior outflows can be improved to address the evolving needs of users on lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie. Physical changes in the St. Clair River will be investigated early in the study as one factor that might be affecting water levels and flows.

The IJC and the UGLS group members are from Canada and the U.S. Both groups are committed to allowing the public the opportunity to have a voice in decisions that may affect them. For more information on the study, visit www.iugls.org .

Grand Valley’s AWRI is a multidisciplinary research organization 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. The institute occupies the Lake Michigan Center on Muskegon Lake in Muskegon, Mich. 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. For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/wri , or call (616) 331-3749.