MEET THE GANG! |
We are so excited to work with this outstanding group of educators and scientists! Read a little bit about the people behind the scenes, and get to know your shipmates before we set sail.
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Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant staff
Terri leads IISG's efforts to improve Great Lakes education in the region as the program's education coordinator. From her office at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, she works with teachers and IISG specialists to design classroom materials, curriculum, and websites. In addition, she conducts educator workshops and collaborates on undergraduate service-learning courses at the University of Illinois. Terri oversees a number of regional projects to promote the stewardship, protection, and restoration of our natural resources. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education from Southern Illinois University.
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Hi! My name is Kristin (not to be confused with Kirsten) and I’m a liaison in U.S. EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office and housed in their monitoring branch. Part of my job at GLNPO (get used to acronyms!) is to work with educators to increase Great Lakes literacy in the classroom. And a very fortunate aspect of that task is that I help coordinate these Shipboard Science workshops annually. This will be my fifth year and thus Lake Michigan is my last lake to explore! Another educator program that I help coordinate is the Limno Loan program where we provide professional water quality monitoring equipment for educators to use with their students in the field. It’s great chance for students to experience being a real scientist! I also enjoy creating opportunities for scientists to connect with educators and their students in the classroom through events like video chats. My educational background consists of an M.E.M. in Coastal Environmental Management from Duke University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame.
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I have been an environmental educator all of my life. There is nothing I like more than talking with people about the world around us. I returned to Illinois in 2012 from Texas because (call me crazy) I missed seeing animal tracks in the snow. I love being able to create curriculum on emerging issues and share it with educators. I hold a bachelor’s degree in environmental biology and two master’s degrees, one in formal education (science) and one in environmental education. I’ve been active board member with the Environmental Education Association of Illinois (EEAI) since I returned to the area. On a personal note, I live in a town of less than 200 on 7 acres where we have dedicated 5 to old field/prairie and love every minute of my life there. I will be with you through the entire trip as your onboard educator and look forward to collaborating with you on this adventure of a lifetime! I’m always available via email if you have any questions.
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Originally from Chicago (go Blackhawks!), I currently work in Urbana, IL as a Sea Grant educator. I began my tenure at IISG in 2013 as a summer intern, working with Kristin TePas to create education and outreach materials for the Lake Guardian. For this summer's workshop, my role is to help coordinate the overall logistics and plan the shore excursions. I hold two Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one in geography and geographic information sciences and a second in earth, society, and the environment. Any questions you have regarding this website, the forum below, the Lake Guardian, or the Shipboard Science Workshop in general, feel free to shoot me an email! I am looking forward to meeting you all at the workshop's kickoff in Milwaukee :)
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Great Lakes scientists
Greetings fellow scientists and teachers! I am a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am a member of Dr. Harvey Bootsma’s lab where I also completed my MS degree in January 2013. My dissertation research will examine the nexus of science, policy, and management in the Great Lakes through experiments to understand and improve the use of ecological indicators in aquatic resources management. My research is funded by the National Park Service. I conducted my master’s thesis on quagga mussel respiration at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a stop on our Lake Michigan cruise. I started my career in the marine sciences leading outreach and research on the health of coral reefs at the University of the Virgin Islands-St. Croix. Following a few years of island living I returned to the Great Lakes and Lake Michigan related projects. I love to travel and a highlight of my recent research has been 10 months working and living on Lake Malawi, Africa investigating water quality conditions and sanitation practices of residents living along the lake’s shoreline. I look forward to my first time working on the Lake Guardian and seeing the full Lake Michigan coastline from the water.
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In 2013 I earned a MS degree from UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences. My master’s thesis research focused on understanding feeding interactions between Lake Michigan zooplankton species. Since then I have remained at UWM's School of Freshwater Sciences working as a Research Technician with Dr. Harvey Bootsma. In my free time I enjoy riding my skateboard, watching horror movies, and drinking the occasional craft beer. I will be accompanying scientist Emily Tyner on the Lake Guardian Research Expedition as a laboratory technician to assist participants in processing samples. I look forward to meeting everyone who will be involved in the awesome program!
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I have worked on the Great Lakes for forty years in research
and monitoring. My experience includes
study of rivers that flow into the Great Lakes, beginning with the Nemadji
River which delivers eroded red clay to Lake Superior, through planning with
the U.S. Geological Survey and measuring the contaminant loads to Lake Michigan
from major rivers (PCB’s, atrazine, chlorodane, and Hg). I led the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study,
the largest and most comprehensive look at delivery, transport and fate of
contaminants ever attempted. My main
interests and work have evolved over the years from zooplankton, nutrients and
contaminants through the large ecosystem changes resulting from decreasing
nutrient input to the Great Lakes and especially the invasion of Dreissenid
mussels to the lower Great Lakes. I am
currently working on interpreting remote sensing data with an application to
the nearshore waters in support of work under the 2012 Great Lakes Water
Quality Agreement.
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Originally from Edinboro, Pennsylvania, I completed a BS in Biology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Notre Dame. I arrived at Loyola University Chicago in Fall 2010 after spending 2 years as an Assistant Professor in Baruch College, New York City.
My research focuses on water pollution including dissolved chemicals (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus) and particulate material (i.e., microplastic and trash) in urban environments. I am interested in the ecology of pollution in aquatic ecosystems: how it is broken down and how it interacts with organisms. I am motivated to conduct this work in part because of my roots in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, regions noted for both natural beauty and industrial pollution. I also enjoy all aspects of the scientific process, including planning experiments, collecting data in field and laboratory work, analysis, and writing. My overarching goals for this research are to contribute to a greater understanding of the sources and solutions to a wide array of pollutants, to incorporate students into this work, and to communicate our results with other scientists and the general public. It’s my hope this will lead to application of the improved prevention and management strategies. |