Increasing human demands and a changing climate are altering water quality and quantity in ways that challenge ecosystem resilience, human health, and existing water policy and infrastructure. Lack of funding and coordination between diverse stakeholders hamper efforts to maintain diverse aquatic ecosystems and access to high quality water resources. Even regions with abundant water, such as the Great Lakes area of the United States, struggle to meet the needs of all water users without degrading water quality. The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin is a multidisciplinary network of researchers across 13 University of Wisconsin institutions seeking to collaborate across academic disciplines to generate insights into the stressors affecting regional water issues and recruit and develop training programs to train the next generation of water scientists. The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin has identified ten grand challenges for maintaining water quantity and quality, including emerging and agricultural contaminants harming water quality, policy and technological limitations to addressing restoration efforts, and competing interests for dwindling natural ecosystems. By funding research projects, developing water related cross-campus curricula, and facilitating relationships with community partners, the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin seeks to resolve these challenges. In this session, we invite contributions related to the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin. This includes primary research presentations funded by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin or talks that address the development of statewide curricula, internship programs, and industry partnerships aimed at training the next generation of water experts. We also encourage talks that highlight the opportunities to leverage what has been learned and developed through the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin to develop regional, national, and international networks aimed at solving water issues.
Lead Organizer: Nicole Hayes, University of Wisconsin Stout (hayes.nicolemarie@gmail.com)
Co-organizers:
Marissa Jablonski, Freshwater Collaborative Wisconsin (jablons5@uwm.edu)
Jill Coleman Wasik, University of Wisconsin River Falls (jill.colemanwasik@uwrf.edu)
Presentations
04:00 PM
FRESHWATER COLLABORATIVE OF WISCONSIN: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO FRESHWATER RESEARCH AND EDUCATION THAT TACKLES GRAND WATER CHALLENGES (7847)
Primary Presenter: Marissa Jablonski, Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin (jablons5@uwm.edu)
The Freshwater Collaborative is a Universities of Wisconsin initiative that brings together water education and research at the state’s 13 public universities. Each University of Wisconsin institution leverages its strengths to work with industry partners, high school educators and career counselors, community members and governmental and nonprofit organizations. Freshwater Collaborative funding grows the pipeline to jobs and training for future water professionals through recruitment efforts and summer camps, course enhancement and creating hands-on experiences, undergraduate research to tackle 10 grand water challenges in Wisconsin and beyond, and internships that lead to careers. Two major water challenges are prioritized: (1) agricultural water management and (2) drinking water and emerging contaminants. The Freshwater Collaborative model brings together six stakeholder groups: water and ecosystems, community and tribal nations, local and state government, non-profits and associations, companies and industry, and academics. The Collaborative has formed statewide Collaboration Groups that include diverse stakeholders to focus on policy and research communications about phosphorus and PFAS. The Freshwater Collaborative is also crossing international borders and collaborating with the Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium to offer quarterly online symposia to discuss policy and research on a variety of water issues facing the Great Lakes region. Dr. Marissa Jablonski will talk about statewide research and programs that the Freshwater Collaborative has supported and grown.
04:15 PM
DEVELOPMENT OF A CROSS-INSTITUTIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY FRESHWATER SCIENCE FIELD COURSE (8342)
Primary Presenter: Sarah Vitale, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (vitalesa@uwec.edu)
Faculty and staff from four University of Wisconsin institutions have developed an interdisciplinary Freshwater Science Field Course for university students based in western Wisconsin. The course has been designed and modified over three offerings, with the intention of providing hands-on field experience for students majoring in freshwater-related disciplines. Modules train students on common field and laboratory techniques used for investigating freshwater issues, and importantly provide a platform for learning to communicate across disciplines and exposing students to expertise outside their program’s curriculum. This presentation will describe the approaches taken to designing and operating the field experience, examples of the activities implemented, and lessons learned.
04:30 PM
The Data Analysis and Monitoring Crew: A model for public-private partnerships that train the next generation of river restoration professionals (8381)
Primary Presenter: Jill Coleman Wasik, University Wisconsin River Falls (jill.colemanwasik@uwrf.edu)
The Data Analysis and Monitoring Crew (DAM Crew) is a student training experience supported by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin (FCW). The University of Wisconsin River Falls (UWRF) hosts the program and collaborates with the environmental consulting firm Interfluve, local non-profits Trout Unlimited and the Kinni Corridor Collaborative, and the Wisconsin DNR and City of River Falls to provide undergraduate students with professional training in river restoration practices. The setting for the DAM Crew is the Kinnickinnic River (the Kinni) that runs through River Falls. The Kinni is an Outstanding Resource Water and a Class I trout stream in western Wisconsin. As the Kinni flows through River Falls it encounters 2 run-of-the-river dams. The dams were originally constructed over 100 years ago and generate hydroelectric power for the city. After an extensive community engagement and planning process, the decision was made to remove the dams and ecologically restore the riverway. A 10-year monitoring plan was developed for the Kinni to track changes in the ecology and geomorphology of the river before, during, and after dam removal. The DAM Crew is a model for a virtuous cycle of collaboration between university, local government, and the private sector. Students collect stream monitoring data during their training, which in turn implements the monitoring program adopted by river stakeholders, and UWRF serves its students and community. The role of FCW, considerations in program development, and student feedback will be discussed.
04:45 PM
Developing The Next Generation of Water Researchers: Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program (7984)
Primary Presenter: Alison Mikulyuk, University of Wisconsin - Madison (alison.mikulyuk@aqua.wisc.edu)
The Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) strives to support the next generation of diverse and multidisciplinary water scientists by providing mentored research experiences for undergraduates across the 13 Universities of Wisconsin. Understanding the use and protection of water almost insists one integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines, and water research can benefit substantially from the work of creative, diverse, and interdisciplinary research teams. Now in the start of its third year, 67 undergraduate scholars from 13 states have participated in the program. In 2023, 85% of participants agreed the Freshwater@UW experience increased their interest in conducting research in the future. Encouragingly, students also indicated a significant increase in their development as a researcher. Weekly professional development workshops facilitated by the UW community cover topics such as applying to graduate school, navigating hidden curriculum, developing presentation skills, and applying for private and public sector jobs. The Freshwater@UW SROP strives to build cohesive cohorts to provide peer-to-peer mentoring and support while participants learn to navigate a research environment. This talk will outline the program’s design and collaborative administration, highlight program benefits reported by past scholars, and discuss future development opportunities.
05:00 PM
DEEPENING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN URBAN POND RESEARCH USING A TIERED APPROACH TO SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT (7738)
Primary Presenter: Helen Schlimm, University of Wisconsin Madison (schlimm@wisc.edu)
Ponds and small waterbodies in urban environments are often overlooked and understudied but provide plentiful opportunities for active community participation in aquatic research. Neighborhood ponds are outdoor laboratories for studying the nexus of hydrology, nutrient and contaminant cycling, biological responses such as harmful algal blooms, and the consequences of intensifying climate change on aquatic ecosystems. We launched the Community Water Monitoring Network (CWMN) in 2022, a volunteer-based monitoring program focused on a subset of the more than 300 stormwater ponds in Madison, Wisconsin. We designed a tiered framework to facilitate community engagement in research and stewardship of urban ponds through 1) broader place-based education events and 2) committed volunteer monitoring efforts. This strategy has enabled us to educate more than 170 community members at their local ponds and gain 15 multigenerational volunteers who have completed more than 130 monitoring events. Key CWMN ingredients include meeting people where they are, leveraging local government partnerships, and fostering in-depth participation. Volunteers incorporate their own community knowledge, broaden their stewardship scopes, and help university researchers address ecological questions. This collective approach enhances understanding and informs management of these valuable ecosystems long term, while deepening connections to everyday users of these resources.
05:15 PM
FIRST LIMNOLOGY COURSE IN NORTH AMERICA FROM 1910 TO 2023 AT UW-MADISON: WHAT CHANGED? WHAT STAYED THE SAME? (7923)
Primary Presenter: John Magnuson, University of Wisconsin-Madison (johnjosephmagnuson@gmail.com)
E. A. Birge began limnology in North America. He hired C. Juday who started a Limnology course in 1910. What made it a limnology instead of freshwater biology is that it covered physics, chemistry, and biology. Teachers were Juday (33 years), Hasler (37 years), Magnuson (32 years), Frost (17 years), Emily Stanley (18 years), and VanderZanden (17 years). Juday’s lectures devoted 40% to physics and 40% to plankton biology. Hasler renamed the course “Limnology, the Conservation of Aquatic Resources.” He cut lectures on physics and chemistry by 50% and included bacteria, fungi, fish, as well as applied issues of eutrophication and fisheries. Magnuson and Frost added more issues such as acid rain and invasive species and a systems view. They added 3 sections of a new lab course that included sampling at Trout Lake Station, streams near Madison. Lecture students got to sample Lake Mendota and the Lake Wingra watershed. E. Stanley and VanderZanden redesigned the course from scratch but again it covered physics, chemistry, biology, and applied topics and an ecosystem view. Initially, most were male graduate students; later most were undergraduate juniors and seniors. Males dominated through the 1950s; by the 1990s 50 to 55% were women. In the 1960’s the number of students increased exponentially to about 210 students but declined in the 1970s only to again increase in the late 1980s and 1990s. This is the largest Limnology course anywhere. Hasler encouraged us to design an introductory course that anyone, regardless of major, would benefit and contribute to the Wisconsin idea.
SS10 - Building Freshwater Knowledge and Networks
Description
Time: 4:00 PM
Date: 6/6/2024
Room: Meeting Room MN