Rick Rediske Receives GVSU’s Outstanding Community Service Award

Grand Valley State University’s Faculty Awards Convocation is held each February to honor the outstanding contributions of our faculty. University awards are presented for excellence in teaching, scholarship that advances the professions and helps society, inspiring mentoring to aid our students successfully along their way, and dedicated service to the campus and larger community.  This year the award for outstanding community service was given to our very own Rick Rediske.

Rick’s community service has been well documented by local news organizations and endorsed by legislators over the past several years. His work within the local community has resulted in new legislation and provided local citizens and large corporations with understandable and fact-based information about chemical contamination, including the current PFAS crisis. His work has been featured in authoritative and scientific journals, which resulted in community awareness and proactive efforts in support of water quality. In 2013, Professor Rediske also led a study abroad trip to Ghana and founded ISHEW: International Sustainability Health, Education, and Water, a nonprofit organization. His leadership and sharing of lab equipment allowed the organization to analyze water samples in rural villages. Rick’s research has provided valuable data to our understanding of water quality and has demonstrated a successful model for interdepartmental collaboration and interdisciplinary research.

Bopi Biddanda attended the Michigan Space Grants Consortium panel on February 13^th at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Bopi serves as GVSU’s Affiliate Representative to MSGC on the MSGC Executive Board, and directs MSGC programs on campus.

Bopi Biddanda, Carl Ruetz, and Anthony Weinke attended the 5^th Biennial responsible conduct of research workshop: contemporary issues in scholarship on February 22^nd on the Allendale campus.

Bopi Biddanda was interviewed for a story about the significance of microbial life on Lake Huron’s sinkholes that appeared in GreatLakesNow.org.  The interview can be found at the following link:  https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/01/sinkhole-ecosystem-cyanobacteria-alien-analog/

Rick Rediske attended the Wolverine Community Action Group’s annual planning meeting on February 6^th and a regular meeting on February 13^th in Rockford.

Rick Rediske attended and provided public comment at the Attorney General/EGLE Meeting concerning the Wolverine legal settlement on February 10^th in Rockford.

Rick Rediske received the Outstanding Community Service Award from GVSU at the Faculty Awards Convocation held on February 11^th on the Pew Campus.  Al Steinman and Molly Lane were also in attendance.

Rick Rediske was part of a panel discussion on the Muskegon Area of Concern for the showing of the film “Back from the Brink” sponsored by ENS 201 on February 17^th on the Allendale campus.

Rick Rediske was part of a panel discussion on the impact of PFAS to communities for the “From PBB to PFAS: Research and Action to Address Michigan’s Large-Scale Chemical Contaminations" symposium on February 20^th at the University of Michigan.

Carl Ruetz and Travis Ellens attended an investigator’s meeting for the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring program on February 14^th in Grand Rapids.

Al Steinman participated in NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve Science Collaborative Panel reviewing pre-proposals for the National Estuary Research Reserve System; the panel was held on February 5^th and 6^th in Ann Arbor.

Al Steinman met with the Church Lake - lake board (Kent County) for a potential study addressing the high salt and phosphorus content in their lake on February 13^th at AWRI.

Al Steinman hosted the Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame committee to select the winners for the upcoming Hall of Fame event on February 20^th at AWRI.

Kevin Strychar was invited by the City of Grand Rapids to sit on an “Erosion 2020” panel to discuss climate change and the Great Lakes on February 27^th at the Holland Convention Center.

Amanda Syers facilitated a Project WET workshop for Lake City Public Schools on February 14^th in Lake City, MI.

Janet Vail and Amanda Syers facilitated a workshop for Groundswell Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative teachers and partners.  The workshop was held on February 6^th at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. 

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 wrote an article highlighting the biggest scientific breakthrough of 2019 in the “Connections for the STEM Classroom” section of InterChange, the magazine of the Regional Math and Science Center, GVSU, that was published in their February issue:

Biddanda, B.  2020.  Top science story of 2019: now you see it – the first picture of a Black Hole. InterChange 27(1). 

Bopi Biddanda, Anthony Weinke, and former undergraduate student Fallon Januska are co-authors of an article accepted to the journal FEMS Microbial Ecology:

Schmidt, M., B.A. Biddanda, A. Weinke**, E. Chiang, F. Januska*, R. Props, and V. Denef.  In Press.  Microhabitats are associated with diversity-productivity relationships in freshwater bacterial communities.  FEMS Microbial Ecology.

Al Steinman has a paper accepted for publication:

Wan, X., Steinman, A.D., Shua, X., Cao, Q., Yao, L. and Xie, L. In Press. Combined toxicity effects of microcystin-LR and phenanthrene on growth and antioxidant system of Lemna gibba. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.

Presentations

(Presenter listed first)

Rick Rediske gave guest lectures on PFAS contamination in Northern Kent County for various GVSU courses this month:

ENS 401: Environmental Problem Solving on February 1^st;
GEO 425: GIS Applications in Geology on February 10^th;
NRM 576: Aquatic Ecosystems Management on February 17^th;
and three sections of BUS 201: Legal Environment for Business on February 27^th.

None this month. Please check again next month!

Bopi Biddanda returned with 7 grants and 10 fellowships awarded to various GVSU grantees from the Michigan Space Grants Consortium panel on February 13^th at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. These grants and fellowships as a subcontract total ~$85,000 to GVSU on which he is a Principal Investigator.  A few of these grants are as follows:

• Bopi Biddanda will be mentoring undergraduate student, Ian Stone, with his Michigan Space Grants Consortium funded research project, “Breathless: Exploring controls of recurring bottom water hypoxia in a Great Lakes estuary”.
• Megan Mader, graduate student working with Carl Ruetz, received a Michigan Space Grants Consortium award for her thesis research project title, “Something fishy is going on: effects of shoreline development and landcover on fish communities along a north-south latitudinal gradient in eastern Lake Michigan”.
• Emily Neuman, graduate student working with Sarah Hamsher, received the Michigan Space Grants Consortium to support her work on Starry Stonewort, “Star Wars: Phenology of Nitellopsis obtusa (starry stonewort) in Pentwater Lake, Michigan”.
• Katy Sheets, graduate student working with Al Steinman, received a Michigan Space Grants Consortium award for her thesis research project on sand-mined lakes, “Predation Pressure and Water Quality in Young Sand Mine Lakes”.
• Sean Woznicki received a Michigan Space Grants Consortium award in the amount of $5000 for a research project title, “Wetlands in time and space:  mapping inundation dynamics and connectivity with remote sensing”.

Al Steinman was awarded $20,000 from the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) to host a summit in Ann Arbor, titled “Groundwater in Crisis? Addressing Groundwater Challenges in Michigan as a template for the Great Lakes.”

AWRI In The News

“Ancient analog: what can Lake Huron’s cyanobacteria tell us about the earth’s past or about other planets?”
Great Lakes Now, January 31, 2020
Bopi Biddanda’s research of the sinkholes in Lake Huron and findings is reviewed.

“Top science story of 2019: now you see it – the first picture of a Black Hole”
Interchange Newsletter (from the Regional Math and Science Center at GVSU): Connections for the STEM classroom, February 2020
Bopi wrote this article about Black Holes.

“’A New Normal’: declining sportsmen’s dollars upend funding model for nature conservation, outdoor recreation”
MiBiz, February 2, 2020
Al Steinman is quoted in this article.

“Adventures in Michigan; movie fundraiser to support young women in STEM”
WKTV Journal/West Michigan Tourist Association, February 3, 2020
Maggie Oudsema is recognized as a former participant in the Young Women In Science Initiative, now working at AWRI.

“Convocation ceremony will recognize faculty members for service, teaching research”
GVNext, February 3, 2020
Rick Rediske received the “Outstanding Community Service Award” at this convocation ceremony.

“AWRI offers internships for summer, fall”
FORUM: a newsletter for the Grand Valley State University community, February 20, 2020
This article is announcing the AWRI is taking applications for summer interns.

“Student Highlight: Ian Stone, 2019 AWRI undergraduate intern”
Grand Valley Lanthorn, February 10, 2020, pg A5
This is a quarter page ad AWRI ran to celebrate Ian and to announce that we are currently taking applications for summer internships.

“March 7 workshop will educate about natural shoreline habitat and best management practices”
White Lake Beacon, February 12, 2020
Janet Vail is listed as being one of the scheduled presenters for this workshop

LMC Events

February 4
The Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership held a public meeting at the Lake Michigan Center.

February 14
Seminar Speaker: Dr. Michael Philben, Assistant Professor of Geological & Environmental Science at Hope College, presented: “Past, Present, and Future Carbon Storage in Boreal Peat Bogs”

February 20
The Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame board of directors held a meeting at the Lake Michigan Center.

February 24
Students from Ross Park Elementary School (Muskegon County) visited the Annis Educational Foundation Classroom for hands-on activities.