Meet Our Grad Student Scholars is a series from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) celebrating the students and research funded by our scholars program. To learn more about our faculty and graduate student funding opportunities, visit Fellowships & Scholarships. 

Junyi Duan is a second-year Ph.D. student in the School of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University. His research interest is employing computer-based technologies to investigate the responses of infrastructure that is vulnerable to natural hazards. He is currently working on an IISG-funded project to efficiently promote infrastructure resilience in the Lake Michigan region.

Due to global climate change, extreme weather events like floods are becoming more frequent. Climate change results in higher Lake Michigan water levels, along with stronger winds and heavier storms, which exacerbates coastal damage. In the last two years, more than 200 coastline communities have spent $878 million repairing damages caused by natural hazards. The spending on repair won’t stop there − it is estimated that shoreline municipalities in the Great Lakes region will spend approximately $2 billion in the near future to restore public infrastructure that has been damaged by recent floods and erosion.

Imagine an old bridge to your house facing relentless storms and floods. You would have some worries, right? Junyi Duan is aiming to understand how different infrastructures handle these disasters. He is tackling the challenge of how to make our coastal communities more resilient to these impacts in the Sustainable Infrastructure and ManUfacturing Lab, supervised by his advisor, Chengcheng Tao, a Purdue University civil engineer and director of the lab.

Duan and Tao are filmed as part of a flood hazard impact video for K-12 education.

Duan is integrating fluid-structure interaction modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to decipher how floods affect infrastructures and communities. “It’s like predicting the future, not to predict doom, but to prepare and enhance the safety of our coastal areas,” said Duan.

The first step on his journey was learning from the past. Duan collected historical records to reveal how floods impacted various places around southern Lake Michigan. This information acted as a guide, steering him toward creating new models. This virtual testing helped him to understand the potential impact of floods and storms on coastlines.

The next step involved creating a powerful two-stage model. First, a physical model combining computational fluid dynamics analysis and finite element analysis was used to assess the flood impact on infrastructure as well as the structural response, respectively. This step helped Duan understand how natural hazards impact infrastructure. Preliminary work involved simulating the effects of floods on bridge infrastructure, which provided valuable insights into structural weakness.

Duan presents his research at the ASCE INSPIRE conference with his advisor Tao.

In the second stage, Duan introduced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. “These algorithms are the secret sauce, crunching big data from the physical model and historical records,” he said.

The result is a comprehensive data-driven model that not only simulates potential flooding damage but also predicts the risk tendencies of critical infrastructural components. The model goes beyond simulations, offering suggestions to reinforce infrastructure, resist floods, and mitigate impacts on southern Lake Michigan coastal communities.

“This stage is crucial for stakeholders looking to make informed decisions about infrastructure types and designs suitable for the coastal area,” said Duan.

You might be wondering, why should this research matter to you. “Imagine living in a coastal community knowing that your home, your school, and your favorite spots are better prepared to face whatever nature throws your way,” said Duan. “Understanding potential hazards and reinforcing infrastructure isn’t just about avoiding damage; it’s about creating a safer, more resilient environment for everyone.”

The outcomes of this study have been presented at three American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) conferences and published as five conference papers. In addition, Duan and Tao worked with Purdue Science K-12 Outreach and filmed an educational video about flood hazards that will be posted on YouTube as part of Purdue’s Superheroes of Science series.

“Over the past two years, I have collaborated on research focused on the Great Lakes area, an ecosystem that sustains over 100 million people and harbors approximately 3,500 species of plants and animals. I admit that I cannot stop global warming or alleviate extreme weather events,” Duan said. “However, my aspiration is that the findings from our research will benefit shoreline residents and municipalities, contributing to the mitigation of economic, physical and ecological losses.”

As Duan charts the course through this research journey, he is not just contributing to scientific knowledge. He aims to pave the way for a safer tomorrow. 

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Meet Our Grad Student Scholars is a series from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) celebrating the students and research funded by our scholars program. To learn more about our faculty and graduate student funding opportunities, visit Fellowships & Scholarships. 

Kathryn Mudica is a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana State University. Her dissertation focus has been biogeochemical research in trace metal pollutants in freshwater using biotic indicators. As a water-ecosystem scientist, she has spent much of her time in the field, understanding aquatic systems and river ecology. This work has taken her to more than 50 of Indiana’s creeks and streams collecting crayfish and other biotic indicators. She has also traversed the 500 miles of the Wabash River, researching water quality in this vital watershed. Her expected graduation date will be the summer of 2024, after which she hopes to continue to spend her days wading in Indiana’s rivers and creeks and researching water quality. 

Streams and rivers are among the most valuable resources humans utilize, but a freshwater system is only as healthy as the organisms that rely on it. Freshwater systems are particularly vulnerable to the environmental persistence of biologically available mercury due to the methylation of elemental mercury. Anthropogenic activities such as coal combustion, mining, petrochemical production, and other industries have altered the pre-anthropogenic cycle of mercury, including mercury speciation. These activities have made mercury biologically available in unnatural concentrations. Once emitted, the biogeochemical cycle of mercury involves atmospheric transport, deposition to land and waterways, and revolatilization, continuing to accumulate despite reductions in emissions. Many coal-fired power plants in Indiana continue to release as much as 2,174 pounds per year, continuing to add mercury to the environment. While these power plants conform to federal regulations, Indiana as a state has not imposed state-specific regulations on the output of mercury to protect the state further. This is particularly troublesome as Indiana relies on coal for more than 50% of its energy production. It is home to 13 operational coal-fired power plants, ranking third in the nation.

West Branch Trail Creek, Waterford, Indiana. With a cobbled substrate and active riffes, Trail Creek is a great crayfish habitat.

Healthy aquatic ecosystems play a significant role in creating and supporting communities. Monitoring, maintaining, and improving healthy waterways can be challenging where historic industries pollute these systems with long-lasting contaminants. Major rivers and resources like Lake Michigan are monitored, but smaller creeks contribute to water quality while also being temporary repositories for pollutants. These creeks and streams can be difficult to monitor and assess for water quality due to limited stream flow and difficult accessibility. Unfortunately, these same water systems can play a significant role in the input of metals and other pollutants into our major waterways. An economical and reliable approach to determining water quality in these areas would be to identify reliable sentinel species that are endemic, easily identified, and respond in a quantifiably significant way to metals in the environment. Similar approaches using macroinvertebrate assemblages have been used successfully in citizen scientist programs and bioblitzes. However, these indices can be complicated, seasonal, and difficult to assess without identification bias. As an alternative, this research proposes, a one-organism approach as a biotic indicator, by documenting mercury in crayfish species and their environment to determine a species-specific response to mercury.

Often interacting as suspension feeders, crayfish interact with the water column continuously through brachial respiration as well as external filtering using their antennae to glean particles from the water. More aggressive crayfish species likely act as predators, moving out of safety zones to actively hunt for more substantial protein sources. These strategies vary not only by the creek but also by species. Too often, generalized responses of organisms such as order or family are used as indicators to assess the impact of mercury. While these general assessments are convenient, they do not take into consideration the varied life strategies that take place on a species level.
Indiana has a diverse range of crayfish species. Historic survey data revealed 22 known species exist throughout the state, with 11 of these belonging to the genus Faxonius. This diversity makes Indiana an excellent study area to determine species’ response to mercury in Indiana creeks.

Faxonius rusticus (Rusty crayfish) are an aggressive invasive species in the Little Calumet-Galien Watershed, displacing native crayfish.

For Kathryn’s project, crayfish samples, water samples, and sediment samples were collected in several creeks in the Little Calumet-Galien Watershed representing a variety of environmental exposures. She hypothesized that crayfish’s environmental interactions as omnivores and biotic engineers place them in a unique environmental niche, making them a reliable sentinel species. By testing and comparing the bioaccumulation of metals in crayfish tissue, water, and sediments, to dominant species, average crayfish size, and population density, we can reliably predict creek health for metals based on the specific crayfish species found. Along with the determination of crayfish as a sentinel species, this study method could be used to create community outreach and citizen science projects in alignment with the IISG Mission of creating an environmentally literate population. This research project will attempt to broaden our understanding of metal transport in aquatic ecosystems.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Meet Our Grad Student Scholars is a series from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) celebrating the students and research funded by our scholars program. To learn more about our faculty and graduate student funding opportunities, visit Fellowships & Scholarships. 

Yizhou Lin, a Ph.D. student in the Sustainable Infrastructure and ManUfacturing Lab at Purdue University School of Construction Management Technology, is exploring sustainable solutions for the construction material industry. Lin’s research is driven by a desire to explore innovative solutions that address this critical issue. Specifically, he is investigating the feasibility of using bottom sediments from Lake Michigan as a sustainable recycling material to enhance the efficiency of concrete use.

The cement industry is estimated to be responsible for approximately 7−8% of global CO2 emissions. The process of creating cement involves heating limestone and other raw materials to extremely high temperatures, resulting in the release of carbon dioxide.   

Lin is testing the amount of heat produced in concrete paste samples.

Concrete, as we know it, is composed of various key components, including cement, aggregates, water, supplementary materials, and additives. The additives play various essential roles in concrete mixtures, such as improving workability, reducing or accelerating setting time, and enhancing strength. Yizhou Lin’s goal is to recycle and reuse bottom sediments from Lake Michigan and evaluate the performance enhancement of the cement and concrete materials with bottom sediments added.

The increasing development of water transportation and port terminal infrastructures generates significant volumes of sediments, including dredged materials. Moreover, the Great Lakes basin faces a considerable contamination problem and harbors toxic substances that cause harm to the local ecological system. Using Great Lakes bottom sediment as an initial ingredient in concrete not only promotes the reuse of materials but also addresses the pressing contamination issue.

Lin’s research journey began with the direct collection of samples from the lake bottom. These materials need to be properly dried and sieved to select the right particle size for use as additives. At this stage, his work primarily focuses on the rheological principle (rheology is the study of flow behavior). For instance, the concept of yield stress and viscosity in fresh cement and concrete represents the point at which the paste transitions from a solid-like, immobile state to a flowable state when subjected to shear forces. He is exploring how additives can influence this yield stress and viscosity. Understanding the principles of rheology could be a game-changer in the context of introducing lake bottom sediments as potential additives. Yizhou’s mission is to decipher how various additives, such as the lake bottom sediment he’s investigating, can influence the crucial rheological behavior of fresh cement and concrete.

By understanding the rheology of fresh cement and concrete, scientists and builders can make concrete better. They can change how they mix the materials with different additives and decide how long to mix everything. This helps them handle the materials well, and make the concrete strong. Now, Lin’s research moves to the next step: how to make concrete more sustainable and durable? That’s the big question for the next phase of the study.

Lin is a world-traveling scholar. He finished his undergraduate degree in New Zealand and his Master’s in Singapore.

To find the best way to use sediment from the lake in concrete, Yizhou is creating a computer model. You might think of it like a video game that lets him see how different materials affect the concrete. He’s testing a wide variety of measurements, like how thick the concrete gets, how strong it is, and how it affects the environment and cost.

Lin isn’t doing this all by himself, but rather using advanced computer algorithms to help him.

“These algorithms are like super-smart helpers that can look at a lot of information and figure out the best ways to use the lake sediment in concrete,” he said. “It’s like a mix of science and computer magic that’s going to help us make construction more eco-friendly and better.

“I’m incredibly excited about the potential of incorporating bottom sediment into construction materials,” Lin added. “It’s like piecing together a complex puzzle where we gather information bit by bit, ultimately assembling the bigger picture to determine its viability.”

Lin finds deep inspiration in traveling around the world, a journey that consistently prompts reflections on the profound connections between humans and nature. This exploration leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of our planet’s diverse ecosystems and cultures.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Meet Our Grad Student Scholars is a series from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) celebrating the students and research funded by our scholars program. To learn more about our faculty and graduate student funding opportunities, visit Fellowships & Scholarships. 

Sydney McAndrews is a second-year graduate student in the Center for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. McAndrews is assessing urban and agricultural stream restorations by surveying fish and macroinvertebrate populations. She is also building food webs using stable isotope analysis to understand the effects of stream restorations on aquatic ecosystems.

Changes in landscapes have detrimental consequences for aquatic ecosystems. Historic forests and prairie lands have been converted to agriculture and urban areas throughout much of the Midwest. Agriculture is the cause of nearly half of the water-quality impairment issues in surface water across the United States. In addition, our expanding cities and increased paved surfaces lead to higher runoff, causing flash flood events and elevated levels of pollutants in streams. Urban and agricultural streams have sparse vegetation surrounding them, reducing pollution uptake by plants and increasing soil erosion into the water. These modified landscapes often force sensitive species out of streams, allowing pollution-tolerant species to invade.

To reduce the impacts of urbanization and agriculture, stream restorations are constructed to improve stream function and health. The goals of stream restoration are to emulate natural stream conditions, improve water quality, and create better habitat for species of interest. Monitoring stream restorations is crucial to determine their effectiveness, yet many projects do not assess the success of restoration after construction. Therefore, there is a gap in our understanding of stream restoration benefits to aquatic ecosystems.

Sydney McAndrews, a graduate student at Eastern Illinois University, is monitoring the success of restorations in two Illinois streams: Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, an agricultural stream, and the Saline Branch in Urbana, an urban stream. Both streams experienced large fish kills due to separate chemical spills in the early 2000s. In response, habitat restorations were completed in Kickapoo Creek in 2010, and in the Saline Branch in 2020. Both restorations included the construction of physical structures to increase habitat and reduce erosion.

To examine if these restorations improved the ecosystems, in the fall of 2022 and 2023, McAndrews and her team conducted fish and macroinvertebrate (animals without a backbone that can be seen without a microscope) sampling in the streams to measure biodiversity. In addition to collecting several species of stream fish and macroinvertebrates, the team also collected ants, spiders, leaves and algae to create a food web of each stream using stable isotope analysis.

Nitrogen and carbon isotopic values change in a predictable way as you move along the food chain.

Food web interactions can be assessed to determine restoration benefits on stream health because they link populations to the functioning of the entire ecosystem. Streams and terrestrial land are connected, and energy and nutrients move between them. The incorporation of food web analysis allows for an in-depth evaluation of energy flow and nutrient cycling through an ecosystem. Monitoring the food web provides insights into the connection between water and land and establishes a foundation for ecosystem-based management. However, few studies have looked at the effects of stream restoration on aquatic ecosystems.

Stable isotopes are a tool to measure and compare the energy flow in ecosystems and are used as a proxy for stream health due to the predictable pattern between a consumer and its diet. As the saying goes, you are what you eat; the composition of a consumer’s tissues reflects their dietary intake over time. A comparison of the consumer’s isotopic ratios in its tissues relative to its potential food sources can be used to build a food web.

The most common isotopes collected in aquatic systems are carbon and nitrogen. Nitrogen isotope composition is used to determine the trophic position of a consumer, or how far up a consumer is in the food chain. Carbon isotope composition is used to analyze the resource base of energy sources supporting the food web and can be used to determine if herbivores are consuming terrestrial leaves, aquatic plants or algae. Healthy food webs have a diverse energy base, with more terrestrial and aquatic links and longer food chains. The food web complexity in aquatic systems can be compared to each other when coupling the results of both carbon and nitrogen isotopes. By monitoring changes in the food web, we can gain insights into diet shifts of individual species or changes in the structure of the entire food web.

Macroinvertebrates collected in the Saline Branch in Urbana, Illinois. Family identification in a clockwise rotation beginning with top left; damselfly, caddisfly, mayfly, and scud

The goal of this research is to use the Saline Branch and Kickapoo Creek restorations as case studies for the effectiveness of stream restoration. The objectives of this study are to (1) measure changes in biodiversity of the streams as a function of the restorations, and (2) compare the food web structures of urban and agricultural aquatic communities as a proxy to stream health in restored and unrestored sections of the Saline Branch and Kickapoo Creek.

McAndrews expects to find more complex aquatic food webs in the restored areas compared to the unrestored areas. Information gleaned from this study will aid in the implementation of effective restoration techniques in urban and agricultural streams. It is critical to monitor the success of costly restorative stream treatments and to allocate funds to projects that increase the resiliency of aquatic habitats. McAndrews’ research is novel in its approach to use food webs to measure restoration success, and she hopes it will lead to enhanced stewardship of urban and agricultural streams in Illinois and Indiana.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Meet Our Grad Student Scholars is a series from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) celebrating the students and research funded by our scholars program. To learn more about our faculty and graduate student funding opportunities, visit Fellowships & Scholarships. 

Amber Schmidt is a second-year graduate student in the Natural Resources and Environmental Science Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research is focused on observing the development of benthic invertebrate communities on a nearshore, dynamic reef system in Lake Michigan. She hopes to connect the impacts of geological changes at the reef site to the changes in the benthic community.

The Adeline J. Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park, home to over 650 species of plants and animals, contains the last natural shoreline of Lake Michigan and the only area of beach ridge complex in Illinois. In 2021, an artificial reef composed of three submerged breakwaters, nicknamed the “rubble ridges,” was built as a pilot project to repair the shoreline and help prevent further erosion damage in a more natural way. The design, construction, and monitoring of the structure was funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in partnership with Healthy Port Futures, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute.

Amber Schmidt is a master’s student working in the Czesny Lab at Lake Michigan Biological Station, a field station in the Prairie Research Institute. She is studying the nearshore macroinvertebrate community at the rubble ridges and comparing the results to the community at a control site located south of the ridges. The goal of this project is to provide a full representation of nearshore, benthic community changes and the geological factors that influence them when an artificial reef is introduced into a system.

Benthic invertebrates are organisms without a backbone that live in vegetation or in substrate in a body of water. Benthic invertebrates can indicate the health of a water body and are a significant food source to many organisms throughout the Lake Michigan food web including yellow perch and lake trout, both popular native sportfish.

The rubble ridges are unique due to the design, location, and natural materials used to build the reef. They consist of three ridges comprised of 2−3-ton limestone boulders piled on top of each other. Due to the high energy in this system such as wave action, storm events and currents, the ridges are expected to accumulate sand and flatten over time. This system is located close to the shoreline (approximately 300 feet offshore and 8−12 feet deep) which provides a new, unique habitat in this part of Lake Michigan, providing an extraordinary opportunity to collect both geological and biological data and observe how these two disciplines intertwine at a natural reef system.

The underwater setup of the Hester-Dendy sampler (left), camera frame (right), and minnow trap baited to capture round goby (back left).

To gather samples for this project, benthic cores, sediment cores, round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) abundance estimates, and round goby stomach content were collected at the rubble ridges site and the control site via a combination of boat-based work and SCUBA surveys. Hester-Dendy samplers were only used at the rubble ridges site. These samplers provide surface areas similar to the boulders at the rubble ridges, which allows for the sampling of encrusting invertebrates. There is no such structure at the control site, so Hester-Dendy samplers were not implemented there.

Benthic cores are collected by a SCUBA diver plunging a 3-inch core into the sand and capping it to capture the sediment. Benthic cores are collected to sample the organisms living in the sediment, while sediment cores are collected to quantify the size distribution of the sediment itself. Round goby are known to consume benthic invertebrates and are highly abundant in the rubble ridges. Round goby were sampled using minnow traps set in the ridges, and micromesh gillnets were used outside of the ridges and at the control site. These round goby were sampled to observe the invertebrates in their stomachs because the invertebrates were likely in the sediment at the two sites or encrusted on the boulders at the rubble ridges site.

Pictures were captured every 5 minutes by GoPro’s mounted on camera frames that remained in the water for 2−3 hours per sampling day to estimate goby abundance at the rubble ridges and control sites.

Scuba diving is the only means of sampling in this high energy, shallow environment; thus, safety concerns, the possibility of ice, and low temperatures makes the sampling for this study difficult. The sampling window each year for this project is brief, it occurred monthly from June through September in 2022 and 2023. Schmidt’s project is part of a 5-year monitoring effort of these structures undertaken by the Lake Michigan Biological Station and Illinois State Geological Survey, and sample collection will continue after she is finished with her master’s project.

Amber Schmidt picking through a Hester-Dendy scrape sample under a microscope. Each vial represents a different taxon of benthic invertebrate.

“I worked as a technician at the Lake Michigan Biological Station when this project began in 2021. I fell in love with the project and asked if I could continue the work on the benthic invertebrate side of the study as a graduate student,” Schmidt said. “This research is helping us understand the impacts of structure introduction on Lake Michigan. Many organizations are thinking about placing similar structures in southern Lake Michigan. This project helps us to better understand the effect these structures on the benthic invertebrate communities and food webs as a whole.”

Located in Washington, D.C., the Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational and professional experience to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources, and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. This is a one-year fellowship open to any student, regardless of citizenship, who is enrolled toward a degree in a graduate or professional program on the day of the deadline.

The application deadline for the Knauss Fellowship is February 15, 2024. Please contact Angela Archer, amcbride@purdue.edu, before submitting an application. This is to ensure that candidates understand the expectations of the fellowship and that every application has all required materials.

Students enrolled at an Illinois or Indiana university or college should submit their applications through Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) by emailing Angela Archer at amcbride@purdue.edu. Students in surrounding states without a Sea Grant program should contact the National Sea Grant College Program at oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov for a referral. 

For more information about this fellowship, other opportunities and application requirements, visit the IISG fellowship page. 

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program  is pleased to announce finalists for the 2024 class of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. The 84 early-career professionals selected will be placed in federal government offices throughout Washington, D.C., and join the over 1,600 people who have participated in the program since its inception in 1979.

The fellowship is a one-year paid opportunity for current and recent graduates from advanced degree programs to apply their scientific knowledge and experiences to lasting careers in the sciences, policy, and public administration.

“Knauss fellows over the years have consistently and thoughtfully applied their unique knowledge and skillsets to developing solutions to issues that affect people across the nation,” said Jonathan Pennock, Ph.D., National Sea Grant Office director. “We look forward to welcoming the incoming class of fellows and have no doubt that they will continue the tradition of serving through science.”

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) is pleased to announce Samantha Garcia, a Masters candidate in the University of Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science as a 2024 Knauss finalist. Garcia will bringing her background in detecting environmental DNA for the invasive cattail species Typha domingensis, her previous fellowship experience in applied statistics, and her work bringing science and communications to marginalized communities to this fellowship.

“I am filled with excitement, pride, and gratitude upon receiving the opportunity to participate in the Knauss Fellowship because it represents the start of my career in environmental policy, but also represents the culmination of years of hard work and dedication to environmental science, stewardship, and sustainability,” said Garcia. “Although I have a passion for science and have enjoyed conducting research in the field of aquatic ecology, I look forward to applying my scientific background to environmental policy and management through this fellowship.”

IISG Director Tomas Hook commented, “We are super excited to have Samantha Garcia join us as a Knauss fellow this upcoming year. The Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship continues to be a great program; providing real-world policy and management training while having top-notch graduate students support federal agency and legislative office initiatives.”

This year’s class features students and recent graduates from 66 universities, including 12 minority-serving institutions. The 84 finalists represent 30 of the 34 Sea Grant programs across the country and have completed years of coursework in fields ranging from zoology, oceanography, and marine science to environmental management, public policy, and engineering. Among the 2024 Knauss Finalist class, 43 finalists are completing Ph.D. programs, 37 are completing master’s programs, and four are completing J.D. programs.

Curious about the Knauss fellowship? The Knauss blog features stories from former Knauss cohorts, sharing insights on fellowship experiences and their journeys to D.C. Information about the Knauss fellowship and other graduate student opportunities can be found on IISG’s fellowships page and also by contacting Angela Archer, campus engagement coordinator, at amcbride@purdue.edu.

The Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational and professional experience to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. The fellowship, named after one of Sea Grant’s founders and former NOAA Administrator John A. Knauss, matches highly qualified graduate students with hosts in the legislative and executive branch of government located in the Washington, DC area, for a one year paid fellowship.

Curious about the Knauss fellowship? The Knauss blog features stories from former Knauss cohorts, sharing insights on fellowship experiences and their journeys to DC. Students enrolled in educational institutions in Illinois and Indiana should apply for the fellowship through Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG). Information about the fellowship and other graduate student opportunities can be found on IISG’s Fellowships & Scholarships page or by contacting Angela Archer, campus engagement coordinator, at amcbride@purdue.edu.

Hannah Lohman, 2023 Knauss Fellow

Hannah Lohman

Hannah’s placement in the NOAA Climate Program Office Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) program has provided opportunities to foster her growth as a climate and sustainability professional. The CAP program is an applied research and engagement program that supports sustained, collaborative relationships that help communities build lasting and equitable climate resilience in the U.S. Through this placement, she has had the opportunity to learn about the federal research grants process, the importance of research and engagement developed with community partners, environmental justice and equity, and interdisciplinary approaches necessary to tackle the complex societal issues surrounding adaptation planning.

During these six months, Hannah has participated in writing and funding research opportunities (including projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), attended conferences and events related to climate change and adaptation, and contributed to the planning of cross-network activities including a justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion workshop series and a 3-day network meeting in Seattle. Her team has also provided the opportunity to pursue independent projects of interest. Hannah is leading strategic partnership development with federal agencies, international organizations, and private sector organizations to understand their programmatic approaches to climate adaptation efforts. Hannah is also organizing and serving as the primary convener of a Town Hall session at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting focused on equitable engagement with frontline communities.

Looking ahead, Hannah will be traveling to Johannesburg, South Africa for the 1st Annual International Water Association Non-Sewered Sanitation Conference to present her PhD research, to Seattle for her team’s annual network meeting, and to San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. She is looking forward to sharing her fellowship experiences with a broader audience at these events. “Overall, my team has been so inspiring to work with,” said Hannah, “and I know they are making a significant impact on communities through their regional research and engagement activities.”

Hannah Lohman received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Grainger College of Civil & Environmental Engineering. She is now working toward a doctorate in environmental engineering with a focus on energy, water, environment and sustainability at UIUC and has completed a Certificate of Excellence in Sustainable Management and Technology from the UIUC Gies College of Business.

Hannah Staley, 2023 Knauss Fellow

Hannah Staley

Within just six months of working with the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), Hannah has gained a vast understanding of NOAA’s ship and aircraft fleet, the federal budgeting as well as the rulemaking process, the agency’s various missions, and the interconnectedness between the executive and legislative branches. As part of OMAO’s Legislative Affairs team, she has reviewed and analyzed new bills, attended various briefings, provided insight on marine and aircraft operations to Congressional members and staff, assisted in internal reports, and staffed OMAO leadership for meetings with NOAA leadership and hearings on the hill.

In May 2023, Hannah spent two weeks on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster supporting NOAA’s Caribbean Coral Reef Mapping project. While onboard, Hannah learned everything she could about ship operations by engaging with NOAA Corps officers, the science team, and engineers. She quickly became a member of the ROV deployment team, assisted the lead scientist in identifying fish and coral species during ROV operations, and had the opportunity to drive the ship between survey locations as well as operate the ROV along the seafloor at 55 meters deep.

“The best part of the fellowship so far is the team that I work with every day,” said Hannah. “This experience is only the beginning, and the OMAO team has already made my Knauss Fellowship year a phenomenal first year of my career working in Washington, DC.”

Hannah Staley received a bachelor’s degree in marine science with minors in environmental science and political science from Coastal Carolina University. This year, Hannah received a dual master’s degree in Environmental Science and Public Affairs at the Indiana University (IU) O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, enhancing her public policy skills and broadening her scientific understanding of the environment.

Audrey Taylor, 2023 Knauss Fellow

Audrey Taylor

As the International Relations and Policy Fellow with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Audrey has been working on a variety of climate and energy issues. Her portfolio includes helping develop and implement new climate policies at the Department of Interior, supporting international and interagency outreach related to carbon capture and storage, preparing leadership for multilateral and bilateral meetings on offshore energy, and more. In particular, Audrey recently had the opportunity to travel to France to learn more about offshore wind energy, interact with industry, and get to know international counterparts.

Her trip included meetings in Paris with the International Energy Agency and the French Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission de Régulation de l’Énergie) and a visit to Nantes for the Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) conference. At FOWT, she learned about the challenges and opportunities for floating offshore wind and took a boat tour of Saint-Nazaire, France’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, and Floatgen, France’s first offshore floating wind turbine.

With the remainder of her Knauss fellowship, Audrey hopes to continue engaging in policy and science related to climate, offshore wind, carbon storage, and other emerging energy issues. She is helping plan a technical trip to Norway for BOEM staff members to explore carbon storage sites and technology and hopes to support the U.S. delegation at the London Convention/London Protocol meeting in October.

Audrey Taylor recently finished her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. Her doctoral research and her undergraduate degree at University of North Carolina Wilmington focused on understanding climates and environments through both space and time.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Contact: Angela Archer

When searching for a job, recent graduates who gained experience in their field through internships, fellowships or part-time work as a student have an advantage over their peers. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) strives to provide these meaningful experiences so that the young professionals who will one day be responsible for working with communities on Great Lakes issues will be prepared, knowledgeable and confident in their abilities. IISG’s most recent cohort of interns—12 in total—have started a summer of meaningful work and will also be completing professional development trainings as part of the internship program. Read about their backgrounds and internship projects below.

Are you an undergraduate student interested in an internship? We post opportunities on our Summer Internship Program page each year in January, so be sure to check back next year! You can also contact Angela Archer for more information.  

Meghanne Burns

Community Engagement Intern with Shedd Aquarium

Meghanne Burns (she/her) is a senior at Purdue University Northwest pursuing a degree in biology with minors in chemistry and environmental science. This summer, Meghanne is interning with the conservation action team at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago under Maggie Cooper as part of Sea Grant’s Community Engagement Internship program. She is managing and expanding on the program Let’s Shedd Plastic by creating educational materials about plastic pollution for the public, as well as working directly with local restaurants to reduce their plastic waste.

Fun Fact: Meghanne has played saxophone for over 8 years!

Intern Meghanne Burns hiking in a national park

Madelyn Craft

Stormwater Infrastructure Intern

Madelyn Craft (she/her) is an incoming senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, majoring in sustainable design with minors in landscape studies and natural resource conservation. This summer, she will be a stormwater infrastructure intern in a program supervised by Eliana Brown. Projects this summer consist of mining Illinois MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer systems) reports for information to include in the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Report, and working with the volunteers and leaders of the Red Oak Rain Garden in Urbana, Illinois to help the amazing garden thrive. She is most interested in native plants, green infrastructure, and environmental restoration. She is pursuing a career where she can implement aspects of both green infrastructure and landscape restoration into creating urban spaces that are both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally beneficial, in the hopes of building healthier communities.

Fun Fact: Madelyn enjoys birdwatching and reading.

Intern Madlyn Craft at a bird banding station

Gianna Galante

Community Engagement Intern with National Park Service

Gianna Galante (she/her) attends Indiana University, studying law and public policy with a minor in environmental science. This summer, she is working with the Indiana Dunes National Park pollinator crew as part of our Community Engage ment Internship program. She is working on butterfly and flower surveys for the park, and she is working on science communication and literacy independently.

Fun Fact: Gianna loves paddle boarding and kayaking at Lake Michigan, and painting!

Intern Gianna Gallante working with paint crafts at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center

Oceana Hamilton

Community Engagement Intern with Chicago Wilderness Alliance

Oceana Hamilton (she/her) is a junior at School of the Art Institute of Chicago studying fine arts through an art and the environment program. This summer, she is working with Laura Reilly and Maria Sadowski at the Chicago Wilderness Alliance, through our Community Engagement Internship program, focusing on event planning and social media. 

Fun fact: During her free time, she works as a multidisciplinary artist on environmental concept art in game design, drag fashion design, sculpture, illustration and more, focused on the intersection between art and environmental science.

Intern Oceana Hamilton’s art work in progress

Chantal Korde

Stormwater Infrastructure Intern

Chantal Korde (she/her) is an upcoming junior majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. This summer, she is a stormwater infrastructure intern working on MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer systems) reports with Eliana Brown and Layne Knoche. She is very interested in sustainable living, and hopes to work in that field after college. She enjoys reading with her tuxedo cat back home.

Fun fact: Chantal loves yoga!

Intern Chantal Korde traveling

Xuanshu Lin

Virtual Reality (VR) Intern

Xuanshu Lin (he/him) just obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in urban studies and planning and Bachelor of Science degree in sustainable design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with highest honors in May. This summer, he is working with Ashley Belle and Megan Gunn, primarily focusing on recording and creating VR materials based on the Grand Calumet River Area of Concern near southern Lake Michigan. Lin is excited about being part of communicating the site’s remediation process.

Fun fact: Lin is a semi-professional magician. If you see him around the Purdue campus, where he’s working this summer, performing magic tricks on random people, please come forward and ask for a special treat!

Intern Xuanshu Lin displaying his magical talents

Chengxu “Gary” Liu

Stormwater Infrastructure Intern

Chengxu “Gary” Liu (he/him) is a rising super-senior (5^th year senior) at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, double majoring in natural resources and environmental science and crop sciences. This summer, Gary is working in the stormwater management program supervised by Eliana Brown and Layne Knoche. He will be working with MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer systems) reports from EPA to classify and reorganize the information related to green infrastructure development. He will also work on a project focused on soil infiltration and soil-water quality analysis at Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s Red Oak Rain Garden on campus.

Fun Fact: Gary loves solo-traveling to different places and would love to capture many natural landscapes and unforgettable moments on the way.

Intern Chengxu “Gary” Liu helping with a site cleanup

Naomi Michael

Great Lakes Education Intern

Naomi Michael (she/her) is going into her junior year at Purdue University majoring in natural resources and environmental science. This summer, she is working with Janice Milanovich and Kristin TePas as part of IISG’s education team. Naomi is working on several projects, including creating introductory videos explaining water quality parameters and how they connect to form overall water health. She is also working on a project creating a collection of water quality phenomena.

Fun fact: Naomi enjoys hiking!

Intern Naomi Michael (right) hiking with a friend and her dog

Mereya Riopedre

Sustainable Communities Intern

Mereya Riopedre (she/her) is a rising senior at Loyola University Chicago studying environmental studies and global studies with a minor in urban studies. She is working as the sustainable communities intern with Kara Salazar, assistant program leader for community development and sustainable communities Extension specialist. This summer, she will be contributing to a variety of community education projects through research and website development. Topics include green planning and hazard mitigation, Illinois-Indiana Master Watershed Steward Program curriculum, septic system ordinance development in northwest Indiana counties, rainscaping education, renewable energy and land use megatrends, and rural housing resource scoping. Mereya is passionate about sustainable development, environmental justice, and food waste reduction.

Fun fact: Mereya played the harp for 10 years!

Intern Mereya Riopedre (right) volunteering at a food kitchen

Matthew Siciliano

Aquatic Invasive Species Intern

Matthew Siciliano (he/him) attends the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and will be a junior in natural resources and environmental sciences this fall. This summer, Matthew is working with Greg Hitzroth, Katie O’Reilly, and fellow intern Colin Tang as part of the aquatic invasive species (AIS) team. He will be traveling to various boat launches in northeastern Illinois to observe boating behavior and interview water recreationists. His internship goals include providing outreach to better inform boater and angler behavior to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, taking inventory of boat launch signage and informing future locations, mapping high traffic areas and other qualities of boat launches, and assessing the effectiveness of designated AIS removal zones. Matthew’s hobbies include playing sports, photography, and gardening.

Fun fact: Matthew coaches a 12u baseball team.

Intern Matthew Siciliano enjoying a round of disc golf

Colin Tang

Aquatic Invasive Species Intern

Colin Tang (he/him) is a rising junior at the University of Delaware studying marine science with a concentration in biology and a double minor in coastal and marine geosciences and applied music. This summer, he is part of the aquatic invasive species (AIS) team with Greg Hitzroth, Katie O’Reilly, and fellow intern Matthew Siciliano. The team is working on education, outreach, and data collection surrounding boater behaviors and actions, and figuring out suggestions to promote behaviors that prevent the spread of AIS. Colin and Matthew will be traveling to different boat launch sites around Lake Michigan to observe behavior and survey recreational water users.

Fun fact: Colin plays the oboe! Music has been a really big part of his life, and he still really enjoy it to this day. Colin traveled to Prague last summer with his university’s wind ensemble.

Intern Colin Tang feeding a whale

Zoey Young

Pollution Prevention Intern

Zoey (she/her) is a rising junior at Lake Forest College double majoring in biology and environmental studies along with minoring in english. She is working with the pollution prevention team with Sarah Zack. Zoey’s role this summer is to create and distribute a survey to Indiana homeowners that focuses on their lawn care practices. From there, that research data will act as a needs assessment for the team to decide what educational material to provide Indiana residents. She is also aiding with the progress of the Marine Debris Action Plan.

Fun fact: Zoey has been a bird keeper for a colony of African Penguins and over nine different raptor species!

Intern Zoey Young working with penguins

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a partnership between NOAA, University of Illinois Extension, and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, bringing science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Contact: Angela Archer