AWRI Summer Student Interns

Pictured Left to Right: Adam McMillan; Steve Ossim; Devi Haria; Andrew Pyman; Megan Zawacki; Courtney Cave; Jennifer Waller.
Not Pictured: Danielle Grimm and Anna Harris

One of the joys of summer at AWRI is our student intern program. This summer, we welcome 9 student interns to the Institute. These students are funded by a variety of sources and work with different principal investigators.

Four interns are being funded through the D.J. Angus-Scientech Educational Foundation, a long-time sponsor of student internships at AWRI: Danielle Grimm will be working with Ryan Thum; Anna Harris will be working with Al Steinman; Adam McMillan will be working with Bopi Biddanda; and Megan Zawacki will be working with Mark Luttenton.

Three interns are being funded through the R.B. Annis Foundation: Courtney Cave will be working with Kevin Strychar; Steve Ossim will be working with Janet Vail and John Koches; and Jennifer Waller will be working with Carl Ruetz.

Other student interns: Devi Haria will be working as a volunteer with Rick Rediske; Andrew Pyman will be working in Ryan Thums lab.

A special thanks to all of these bright, young researchers for their hard work and dedication!

LMC Events

May 1 & 8
Roguewood Elementary students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

May 2 & 7
Shoreline Elementary 2nd graders visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.

May 8
The William G. Jackson Muskegon Lake Research Endowment Fund Advisory Committee held their annual meeting.

May 9
Oakview Elementary students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

May 13
AWRI held their Summer Student Intern Orientation for 2013.

May 13, 14, 16, 17
Fruitport Middle School students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

North Park Montessori students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

May 18
Michigan City High School students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

May 20
GVSU students from Alexandra Lochers NRM 150 class were given a tour of the Lake Michigan Center.

May 21
Students from Scott High School in Lansing visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

May 23
Third grade students from Oakview Elementary school in Muskegon came to the Lake Michigan Center to release their salmon. This is part of MDNR's Salmon in the Classroom project.

May 24, 28, 29, 30
Daisy Brook Elementary students visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities and took a vessel cruise on the W.G. Jackson.

May 25
The Michigan Botanical Clubs held a field trip on the research vessel W.G. Jackson as part of its spring foray.

May 28
Members from the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians & MDNR (Michigan Department of Natural Resources) held a meeting.

 

Activities

Josh Haslun, PhD candidate working with Kevin Strychar, successfully passed his written and oral comprehensive exams for the PhD program at MSU. This is important as Josh is one of three students involved in the white paper to describe a successful PhD joint program between MSU and GVSU.

John Koches assisted in preparation, co-hosted (along with Norman Christopher), and lead the discussion at a special Mayors Meeting of the Regional Community Sustainability Partnership at GVSUs Alumni House on May 9. Member counties are Muskegon, North Ottawa, Holland/Zeeland, and Kalamazoo/Portage.

James Smit, graduate student working with Al Steinman, passed his qualifying exam on May 15. Rick Rediske and Mark Luttenton are also on his thesis committee.

Ryan Thum and graduate student Syndell Parks attended a National Science Foundation I-Corps workshop from May 13-16 in New York City.

Janet Vail attended the annual Clean Air Coalition lunch with meteorologists, DEQ, and regional planning agencies on May 3.

 

Presentations

Members of AWRIs Information Services Center presented at the Upper Muskegon Watershed Stakeholders Meeting hosted by the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly in the Houghton Lake area on May 14. AWRI staff are bolded, graduate students are denoted with an *, undergraduates are denoted with **.
Alex Ebenstein** and John Koches spoke about pollution models, Rod Denning spoke about map inventory, and Betty Gajewski spoke about information, education, and evaluation.

AWRI was represented at the annual meeting of the Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) held in Jacksonville, Florida from May 19 - 23. Presenter is first listed, AWRI staff are bolded, graduate students are denoted with an *, undergraduates are denoted with **.
Carl Ruetz served as a moderator for a technical session titled Population and community ecology: population size and top-down control.
Al Steinman served as a moderator for a technical session titled Aquatic ecosystem management: Nutrient and biological responses.
McNair, J, L. Gereaux*, A. Weinke**, M. Sesselmann*, S. Kendall, and B. Biddanda. Oral. Alternative methods for estimating components of lake metabolism using process-based models of dissolved-oxygen dynamics.
Nogaro, G. and A.D. Steinman. Oral. Interactions between ecosystem engineers and sediment characteristics influence nutrient biogeochemistry of eutrophic lake sediments.
Ogdahl, M., A.D. Steinman, and G. Nogaro. Oral. Using macrophytes to assess restoration success in Muskegon Lake, Michigan.
Ruetz, C.R., B.S. Harris*, J.M. McNair, and J.J. Homola*. Oral. Mark-recapture and removal methods for estimating sculpin abundance in streams.
Steinman, A.D. and M. Ogdahl. Oral. Reconciling the regulation of P load reduction and scientifically appropriate data needed to make informed management decisions: Bear Lake, MI as a case study.
Woller-Skar, M.M. and M.R., Luttenton. Oral. The influence of sediment nutrient enrichment on microcystin production and viability of dormant cells of Microcystis aeruginosa.
Al also is on the Board of Directors of SFS and attended several meetings.
Mark Luttenton is Chair of the SFS Long Range Planning Committee.

Scott Kendall gave a presentation titled Lake Science at the Grandville Middle School Career Day on May 2.

Mark Luttenton gave a presentation titled Brown Trout Movement in the Au Sable River to members of Trout Unlimited in Chicago on May 7.

Rick Rediske gave a Webinar for the Michigan Green Chemistry Clearinghouse titled Introduction to Toxicology.

Michael Snider, graduate student working with Bopi Biddanda, gave a presentation at the American Society of Microbiology Annual Meeting held in Denver, CO on May 20.
Snider, Michael*. Oral. Photophysiology of submerged sinkhole cyanobacterial mats.

Al Steinman was the invited speaker at the Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame induction event held at the Gerald R. Ford Museum on May 9. The title of his talk was The Great Lakes Ecosystem: Existing Challenges.

Al Steinman was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Michigan Botanical Foray on May 26 at Calvin College. The title of his talk was Climate Change and the Great Lakes.

Al Steinman was the invited plenary speaker at the Michigan Garden Clubs State Convention on May 30 in Holland. The title of his talk was Current Threats and Challenges to the Great Lakes And Some Solutions.

Janet Vail presented four sessions about AWRI for students at North Muskegon High School.

 

Publications

Jim McNair and others from AWRI were co-authors on a paper currently in press with Ecological Modelling:
McNair, J. N., L. C. Gereaux, A. D. Weinke, M. R. Sesselmann, S. T. Kendall, and B. A. Biddanda. In Press. New methods for estimating components of lake metabolism based on free-water dissolved-oxygen dynamics. Ecological Modelling.

Rick Rediske is a co-author on a paper published online:
Madenjian, C.P., M.A. Stapanian, R.R. Rediske, and J.P. O'Keefe. Sex difference in polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations of burbot Lota lota from Lake Erie. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

Al Steinman is a co-author on a paper accepted (with minor revisions) to Journal of Great Lakes Research:
Larsen, J.H., A. Trebitz, A.D. Steinman, M. J. Wiley, M. Carlson-Mazur, V. Pebbles, H. Braun, and P. Seelbach. In Press. Great Lakes Rivermouth Ecosystems: Scientific Synthesis and Management Implications. Journal of Great Lakes Research.

 

Awards & Recognition

Mark Luttenton was invited to be an affiliate member of the Institute for Natural Products Applications and Research Technologies at the University of Oklahoma.

Kevin Strychar has been invited to be a convener at the 5th International Conference on Coelenterate Biology to be held December 1-5 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Kevin Strychar was invited to be a member of Ocean Exploration 2020 sponsored by NOAA and the Aquarium of the Pacific. This national forum brings together, what they call, 100 of the most important ocean exploration stakeholders from academia, foundations, government agencies, and the private sector. This forum will be held July 19-21 in Long Beach, CA.

 

AWRI In the News

Grand Status
Grand Haven Tribune, May 4, 2013 Rick Rediske was interviewed regarding the history of the Grand River.

A Blue Economy Muskegon looks to Milwaukee for lessons on waterfront growth
Muskegon Chronicle, May 5, 2013 The AWRI is mentioned in the article. Al Steinman is quoted.

USGS ramps up Silver Lake diagnostic evaluation
Oceana's Herald-Journal, May 23, 2013 AWRI will be looking at the lakes internal loading and phosphorus levels.

Student aquatic plant researcher wins presentation competition
GVNext (a publication of Grand Valley State University), May 24, 2013 Danielle Grimm, undergraduate student working with Ryan Thum, won a student presentation competition at the Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society's annual meeting in Cleveland, OH.

Register now for the MEECS Climate Change Workshop
InterChange newsletter (Regional Math & Science Center, GVSU) Janet Vail will be the primary presenter at a MEECS workshop on June 12 at AWRI.

GVSU faculty member awarded Great Lakes Research Award
InterChange newsletter (Regional Math & Science Center, GVSU) Janet Vail will be presented with the Jack Vallentyne Award at the 2013 IAGLR Conference.