While 2020 has been challenging in many ways, our Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) team has had silver linings in the form of awards that honor the hard work they put into their jobs each and every year. See below for several awards that celebrate the dedication our staff members put into communicating the latest science to communities in Illinois, Indiana and beyond.
“I think I speak for everyone on the management team at Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant when I say that we’re appreciative of the amazing work that our specialists do, especially through tough times like this past year,” said IISG Outreach Program Leader Pat Charlebois. “These awards recognize their commitment to community engagement and high-quality publications.”
Staff Excellence Award for PK-12 Science Outreach
Megan Gunn, who joined Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant this year as an aquatic education associate and also serves as the Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources recruitment and outreach specialist, was selected as the 2020 recipient of the Purdue University College of Agriculture PK-12 Council’s Outreach and Engagement Staff Excellence Award. Gunn works with schools to provide expertise in natural resources and aquatic education, and attends a variety of events to inform students about career opportunities related to natural resources. She also shares about avenues available at Purdue to assist students in gaining the experience and education necessary to have a career in the field through school visits, field days with hands-on experiences and campus tours.
Megan Gunn works with students in a local stream, collecting samples for testing. (This outreach event occurred before the pandemic.)
Great Lakes Water Safety Volunteer of the Year
The Great Lakes Water Safety Consortium (GLWSC) is a growing community of people from organizations passionate about water safety and drowning prevention. Out of more than 800 GLWSC members and dozens of Action Committee volunteers, Leslie Dorworth was named as Volunteer of the Year for 2019-2020 by Executive Director Jamie Racklyeft. Her excellent leadership of the Education & Training Action Committee, her dedicated service to other working groups and her support of their many events and initiatives throughout the year has earned her this honor and is greatly appreciated.
AIS truck wrap wins Hermes Gold Award
Hermes Creative Awards honored our aquatic invasive species team with a 2020 Gold Award for print media to recognize their innovative work on a truck wrap for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Driven by the Illinois DNR Lake Michigan Program project specialist, the truck features hydrilla, zebra mussels and Asian carp as recognizable invasive species that are introduced to local waters through plants and animals being transported via boat from one waterway to another, releasing fishing bait, and more. The truck is a reminder to all who see it to Be A Hero – Transport Zero. Congratulations to Greg Hitzroth, Amanda Huegelmann, Lian Lucansky, Pat Charlebois, Joel Davenport, Irene Miles, and Hope Charters for their collaboration on this winning project.
Unwanted Meds brochure wins APEX Award of Excellence
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s unwanted medicines program connects communities with resources to safely dispose of unwanted medicines to prevent them from disrupting the health of local waters. APEX Awards for Publication Excellence selected the Proper Disposal of Unwanted Medicine: How to Protect Your Home and Environment brochure as an Award of Excellence winner for print media. The brochure contains tips for reducing the amount of unwanted meds in your home, why it’s dangerous to throw away or flush unwanted meds and options for how to properly dispose of any unwanted meds. Congratulations to Sarah Zack, Joel Davenport, and Hope Charters for their collaboration on this winning project.
Lake Michigan Health website wins Communicator Award of Distinction
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s Lake Michigan Health: A Deeper Dive website won a 2020 Award of Distinction from the Communicator Awards, with judges from the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, for the category of general science websites. Lake Michigan gets regular health checkups, but like many people, it sometimes needs special monitoring or scanning to get to the bottom of symptoms or concerns. This website breaks down the latest results from some of these tests and evaluations to make them available to the general public in an interactive format. Congratulations to Allison Neubauer, Kristin TePas, Carolyn Foley, Irene Miles and Paris Collingsworth for their collaboration on this winning project.
Food web graphic wins Hermes Gold Award
The Lake Michigan Health website features interactive graphics, easy-to-understand diagrams and photos of science in action. One of these graphics, titled “Lake Michigan Food Web: Changes throughout History,” won a Hermes 2020 Gold Award for interactive media. The graphic helps explain changes in the Lake Michigan food web over time by allowing users to visualize transformations in the lake from pre-European settlement through the mid-20th century and what it looks like after the invasion of zebra and quagga mussels. The interactive tool can be used with anglers to explain how changes in the lower food web affect fish populations. Congratulations to Allison Neubauer, Kristin TePas, Carolyn Foley, Irene Miles, Paris Collingsworth and Joel Davenport for their collaboration on this winning project.
Lake Michigan Food Web: Changes throughout History
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program (IISG) anticipates having $800,000 to invest in promising research projects relevant to southern Lake Michigan and surrounding coastal communities in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana. Work is to be completed in the 2022-23 biennium. Work can be conducted outside of the geographic area outlined above provided applicants make a compelling case for why their work is relevant to southern Lake Michigan and surrounding coastal communities.
For the 2022-23 cycle, IISG will prioritize the funding of projects whose outcomes demonstrate potential to benefit underserved communities in the southern Lake Michigan region.
IISG encourages submissions by early career scientists and/or persons who have partnered with, or plan to mentor, early career scientists. IISG also encourages all applicants to make research plans such that their work will effectively center on underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, people with disabilities, and/or people from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds that have limited their ability to pursue a career in STEM.
Eligibility
Investigators from educational or research institutions including universities, museums, and other NGOs, are eligible to serve as PI for these funds. Priority will be given to Illinois- and Indiana-based researchers. Researchers from other states are welcome to apply but proposed work must demonstrate how it will benefit the mission of IISG.
Research Topics
Projects should propose to answer a clear research question or set of related questions, and should demonstrate fit with the IISG strategic plan. Four areas are of special interest for the 2022-23 funding cycle:
Production, marketing, and/or distribution of local foods with a focus on fisheries and aquaculture
Adapting to changing lake levels in the southern Lake Michigan region
Water safety, with a goal of reducing the number of drownings in Lake Michigan
Improving Great Lakes education initiatives, including how to best raise awareness of how to safely recreate near or in Lake Michigan
Additional topic areas of interest include broader aquaculture research, aquatic invasive species, community climate readiness, fisheries, healthy waters and pollution prevention, recreation and tourism, stormwater and green infrastructure, sustainable community planning, and water supply.
Preproposal Submission
Prospective PIs must submit a preproposal to be considered for funding. Preproposals should be submitted by 5 p.m. CST (6 p.m. EST) February 1, 2021 to iisgres@purdue.edu. Please indicate “2022 Biennial Grant Preproposal” in the subject line.
Get ready to receive your weekly dose of natural resources information via a new podcast network called Natural Resources University. Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s (IISG) Mitch Zischke and Megan Gunn co-host one of the new podcasts, Pond University.
Zischke, a clinical assistant professor for FNR who also contributes to Purdue Extension and IISG programming, and Gunn, who is a recruitment and outreach specialist for FNR as well as an aquatic education associate for IISG, are the hosts of Pond University. This podcast, which will cover topics such as pond habitat, fish stocking, vegetation control and pond construction, will feature conversations with aquatic scientists, landowners and pond professionals. The first episode of Pond University is available here: Episode 01 – More than just a hole in the ground: Understanding the pond ecosystem for better management.
In 2019, Zischke teamed up with Jarred Brooke of Purdue FNR to create the Pond and Wildlife Management Website, helping Indiana landowners manage their ponds for fishing and their land for hunting and other wildlife opportunities. The website contains publications on various related activities, from fish stocking to managing woods for white-tailed deer as well as a list of county contacts to reach out to for professional help with property.
In total, Natural Resources University will include four science-based podcasts, covering different aspects of natural resource management. You can subscribe to the entire network, which will bring you a different podcast each week, or you can subscribe to one of the individual podcasts, which will release one episode a month. A full introduction to the Natural Resources University network team and to each podcast is available in this overarching episode: Episode 01 – Introduction to NRU.
The four podcasts are:
Deer University: Topics discussed include deer biology, ecology, and management to help landowners and hunters apply science to practical management objectives.
Pond University: Conversations with aquatic scientists, landowners, and pond professionals will cover topics like pond habitat, fish stocking, vegetation control and pond construction.
Fire University: Science-based podcast covering the latest research in fire ecology and how it relates to management of wildlife and plant communities.
Habitat University: Discusses the science behind wildlife habitat management and how landowners and managers can use different habitat management practices to improve their land for wildlife.
This autumn has had some unseasonably warm days, but winter is right around the corner, which means you need to prepare your water garden for the coldest months. Before winter hits, you should protect plants, fish and wildlife by winterizing your water garden to ensure it remains healthy for the spring season.
Protect Your Plants
Can your plants survive through the winter? That depends on what hardiness zone you live in. If you are unsure of what plants are considered hardy in your area, first check the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map to determine in which zone your garden is located. Then, cross-reference information about your garden plants so that you know what kind of care they need based on your hardiness zone.
Tips for Illinois and Indiana: Illinois falls in zones 5a-7a and Indiana lies in zones 5b-6b. Some winter hardy plants recommended for water gardens in these regions are American yellow lotus (hardy in zones 4-11), common arrowhead(hardy in zones 5-10) and American water willow (hardy in zones 4-11).
If your pond is deep enough, keep winter-hardy plants under at least two feet of water. Plants that are not winter-hardy should be in heated ponds or tubs above 50° F. Oxygenators (e.g., hornwort, American waterweed, sago pondweed) or floating plants should be moved into indoor aquariums.
For the adventurous, you can try overwintering your water garden plants indoors in a variety of ways, either keeping them cool and dormant or active as houseplants.
Clean Your Pond
A clean pond is a happy pond. Remove any decomposing plants and debris from your water garden. If the leaves haven’t fallen in your area yet, erect a net over the water to catch leaves before they enter the pond. Thin out any dense vegetation or cut back plants you plan to overwinter in the pond.
You can compost many unwanted water garden plants, but some should not be composted. Invasive plants should be bagged in plastic and placed in the trash because if seeds, roots or other parts are not fully decomposed, then they can spread to new areas. If there are snails living in your water garden, avoid composting any plants from the pond.
Another option is to donate or trade unwanted plants with other water garden hobbyists. However, some plants are invasive and may be prohibited for sale, trade or transportation in your state. Visit takeAIM.org/regulations for a list of state and federally prohibited species.
Remember that releasing aquatic plants in natural areas assuming that they are native or harmless can spread invasive species. Invasive plants and animals cost millions in tax dollars to control and are sometimes impossible to remove. Visit ReleaseZero.orgto learn how to Be A Hero – Release Zero and keep ecosystems and wildlife healthy.
With the prolonged pandemic continuing to affect the United States, traditional education has turned toward at-home learning and virtual classrooms to keep students safe. Now more than ever, teachers must be able to find lesson plans for their students that are adaptable to different learning environments and cover topics required by the curriculum. To meet these needs, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) has created a weather and climate education toolkit where teachers can find resources on the topics of weather, climate and climate change.
Teachers—whether parents, home school tutors or licensed professionals—can find what they need by using the search function to filter by grade level, specific weather and climate subtopics or geographic locations, learning mode and more. Many of the lesson plans and activities in this curated catalog of resources can be used as-is or adapted for virtual learning and at-home teaching environments.
“It was great to be able to work closely with our IISG education team to create this toolkit,” said Veronica Fall, climate extension specialist with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and University of Illinois Extension. “These are tough times we’re living in, so we’re excited to help empower educators, both locally and nationally, with additional resources to be able to teach complex topics in a virtual setting.”
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s oldest Lake Michigan real-time monitoring buoy was badly damaged in August 2020. The buoy—which is moored 3.5 miles off Michigan City, Indiana, in about 64 feet of water—lost multiple solar panels as well as wind, air temperature and barometric pressure sensors, and suffered a broken mast.
“We knew something was wrong because the data weren’t transmitting correctly, but when we got there we couldn’t believe it”, said Jay Beugly, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant aquatic ecology specialist and chief buoy wrangler. “We’re very disappointed because lots of people rely on that buoy’s data.”
Well-wishers were quick to reach out via email and @TwoYellowBuoys on Twitter, with meteorologists, engineers, boaters and lake lovers sending support. “It’s always great to hear from people,” Beugly shared, “but most don’t know that we don’t have a huge budget to deploy these buoys each year. Buoy support isn’t mandated by our organization the way it is for other sections of NOAA—it’s just a service that we really like to provide to help with water safety in southern Lake Michigan.”
The Michigan City buoy has been deployed annually since 2012. In a typical year, the buoy requires minor upgrades to improve data transmission or minimal repairs to sensors and internal power systems. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant works with the Purdue University Lyles School of Civil Engineering to ensure the buoy can consistently relay data from the lake, and relies on a supporting network of partners including LimnoTech, the National Data Buoy Center, the Coast Guard and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to help keep things running for minimal cost. The damage suffered in August 2020 will be a major blow to the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant real-time buoy program.
“Our real-time buoy program is incredibly popular, and we’re committed to continuing it,” said Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Assistant Director Stuart Carlton. “We accept donations for the buoys via Purdue University, and we hope people consider helping out if they can. We know times are tough for everyone right now, and, regardless, we’ll try to get the buoy back in the lake as soon as possible.”
Registration is now open for the Fall 2020 American Citizen Planner – Indiana program hosted by Purdue Extension and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. This online training course for local planning officials and interested residents covers topics revolving around core planning issues, practices and theories related to community planning and service as a public official. After completing online coursework and participation in two webinars, participants will earn “Master Citizen Planner” certification. Participants must register by August 21 for the Fall 2020 course.
The American Citizen Planner – Indiana course is offered twice each year. The course is self-paced, and participants have four months to complete the course requirements and attend two webinars hosted by a Purdue Extension Educator. Webinars offer deep dives into course topics and feature experts discussing current issues that affect community and land use planning in Indiana.
The course registration fee of $200 includes four months of access to the online modules as well as registration for the two webinars.
For more information or to register for the program, contact Daniel Walker at walke422@purdue.edu or visit puext.in/ACPIN.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
When the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) held its 2020 conference entirely online last week, Teach Me About the Great Lakes was there to stream a live interview—a first for the podcast. In Episode 12, titled “You Never Lose Track of Your Old Friends,” Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s Stuart Carlton and Carolyn Foley speak with Jan Ciborowski, the 2020 IAGLR Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Ciborowski is an entomologist-turned-food-web-ecologist who has studied invertebrates and water quality in streams, wetlands, lakes and more during his over 40 year career.
Carlton, Foley and Ciborowski discuss how terrifying mayfly sampling can be, the pros to an open-door policy in research labs, and why the key to solving complex problems is “a big enough room and the right kind of beverages.” This episode also features heartfelt testimonies from some of Ciborowski’s over 250 former graduate students, highlighting how appreciative they are for his work and mentorship.
Teach Me About the Great Lakes is a monthly podcast in which Carlton—a social scientist who grew up in the South near the Gulf of Mexico—asks people to explain the biology, ecology and natural history of the Great Lakes. A new episode will be released on the first Monday of each month. The latest episode is embedded below.
Love this episode and want to hear more in the future? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or use the RSS feed in your favorite podcast player.
If you have questions you want answered about the Great Lakes, reach out to @TeachGreatLakes on Twitter or email Stuart Carlton at jsc@purdue.edu.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
Last year, Lisa Kim was selected as a John A. Knauss Fellow, an opportunity for a unique educational experience for students interested in national policy decisions affecting ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources. Representing Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, this Loyola University Chicago graduate student was matched with a host in the Washington, D.C. area for a one-year paid fellowship. Here she reflects on her experiences.
“Ha…neul?” my teacher called out hesitantly, unable to pronounce my name. It was the first day of school, and I shrunk away in my seat, feeling guilty that my own name seemed to be causing an inconvenience to my teacher and embarrassed by the curious looks I was getting from my classmates.
This was my brother’s first Christmas and our first photo as a family together in America. My parents wanted to take a nice portrait in front of our first tree to send to our relatives in Korea.
It was the first time I felt uncomfortable with my Korean identity. My parents had proudly given me the name Haneul, which means “sky” in Korean, and they hoped that it would inspire me to have big dreams without limitations. They held onto this hope themselves as we moved to the U.S. when I was just over a year old.
The discomfort I felt with my name continued into the early years of my education—that is, until the day my mom came home from the store with my new English name “Lisa” written on a framed piece of paper. My mom hoped that this new name would make me feel more American, but I still could not escape the difficult and unique challenges that I faced in the years to come.
I, like many others from minority groups, have struggled with feeling like I belonged to a society and culture that looked different from the one I experienced at home. Too often I experienced unkind remarks and phrases. I also felt the biases and pressures that come with being forced to fit the mold of a ‘model minority,’ a perception based on stereotypes of certain minority groups (typically of East and South Asian descent) that are seen as more STEM- or musically inclined. For many years, I have grappled with feeling like a stranger in places I identified as home—too Korean for my American community, and too American for my Korean one.
At Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts & Sciences and Institute of Environmental Sustainability commencement ceremony in May 2016, I had the honor of giving the commencement speech to my peers. A great way to end my undergraduate years! (Photo by Natalie Battaglia)
As I entered my college years, I decided to try to do what my parents have always told me to do: embrace my Korean culture. Learning from educators with different perspectives and backgrounds, my world opened up, and so did I. I grew to appreciate the importance of having thoughtful and supportive mentors who understood my story as well as allies who wanted to understand. It was through these connections, along with the strong support of my family, that I felt more empowered to live up to my Korean name and pursue my dreams without limitations.
In 2016, I became a graduate student in Dr. Tim Hoellein’s aquatic ecology lab at Loyola University Chicago. By that summer, I found myself in waders, knee-deep in urban streams to study the effects of plastic pollution on important ecological processes. Concerned community members often asked me questions such as, “What is our government doing about plastic pollution?” Compelled by these questions focused on the relationship between our environment and politics, I started to look beyond academia and into the world of policy. With the support of Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, I was accepted into the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship in 2018. I knew my year would be filled with marine policy work in Washington, D.C., but I didn’t anticipate that I would also build lasting relationships with international collaborators while managing ocean projects in the very country I was born in.
This was one of my first days out in waders at a study site in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dr. Tim Hoellein)
For the fellowship, I was placed at the NOAA National Ocean Service Headquarters, Policy and Constituent Affairs Division in 2019. Shortly into my year, I began to manage the Joint Project Agreement, which is a partnership between NOAA and Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries that oversees 25 ocean projects. In this role, I facilitated conversations and helped build relationships between Korean government officials and NOAA, and ensured that projects under the agreement were carried out smoothly. You can read more about my experiences in a post I wrote on the Knauss blog.
Knauss Fellowship class of 2019 graduation day. My host office, Policy and Constituent Affairs Division, came out to celebrate the end of my fellowship. Pictured left to right: Rick Schwabacher, Nicole Fernandes, Lauren Talbert, Lisa Kim, and Glenn Boledovich.
My Korean language skills were valued in new ways that helped my office and a federal agency to maintain positive international collaboration. I remember the day I told my parents that I would be going to South Korea to meet with our collaborators as well as spend some time with family members I hadn’t seen in over 20 years. My mom, who worked over 12-hour shifts of manual labor to support our family in the United States, replied, “It was all worth it.”
To this day, I am the only or one of few minority women in the room. While it can be hard to find my voice in this space, I have come to find great comfort and empowerment through my newly formed relationships at NOAA and from the many leaders that I have worked with, all of whom strongly believe in equipping the next generation of diverse leaders to continue the work of protecting our waters.
After my fellowship ended, I began supporting the NOAA Office of Education as an Education Strategic Planning Specialist. My primary roles for the office include youth engagement work with teens at aquariums across North America as well as congressional engagement. This position, in addition to my Knauss fellowship, has given me a platform to pave the path forward for other minority students, empower them and amplify their stories, and encourage them to dream without limitations—just like my parents encouraged me to do.
Thankful for my roots. A full family photo taken on Thanksgiving day in 2019. Pictured left to right: Joseph Kim (dad), Young Kim (mom), Mike Kidd (partner), Sarita Saju-Kim (sister-in-law), and David Kim (brother).
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
Writer: Lisa Kim, NOAA Office of Education, former Knauss Fellow sponsored by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
IISG is hiring an experienced communication coordinator to oversee communication and lead efforts to develop and maintain programs and products that promote science-based knowledge and highlight IISG’s research, outreach and education efforts. Learn more at the #linkinbio.
Zischke, a clinical assistant professor for FNR who also contributes to Purdue Extension and IISG programming, and Gunn, who is a recruitment and outreach specialist for FNR as well as an aquatic education associate for IISG, are the hosts of 
;
