Welcome to the latest edition of Sea Grant Chats. At IISG, spring is buoy deployment season. To celebrate, Renie Miles and I sat down with Les Warren our buoy specialist who is a busy man this time of year. We discussed what makes the buoys so popular with the public and how important they’ve become to keeping the Great Lakes safe.

 Renie: Les, why do we have buoys and where are they located?

Les: Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant has three nearshore buoys in Lake Michigan. They’re located off Michigan City, Indiana, and then two up in the Illinois waters near Wilmette and Chicago.

The buoy program was established first and foremost to aid public safety, with regard to beach conditions, swimming conditions, and boating safety. They really provide valuable data, including wave height and wind speed and direction that can aid in the public safety factor. But also, from a scientific standpoint, they contribute to a much larger network of buoys around the Great Lakes that’s highly utilized by the National Weather Service to do their forecasting and modeling of lake-wide conditions.

Renie: Stuart, would you like to comment on the buoys and the Sea Grant mission?

Stuart: What’s great about the buoys is they are, in many ways, the most popular thing that we do, and I think part of that is that we’re bringing data into the hands of the people who use it, right? Part of what we want to do at Sea Grant is make sure that science gets used for the people. The buoys are our most direct interface to that. We are collecting cutting-edge data and making it available for people to use in their decision-making. And I think the value in that has been reflected for many, many years through the popularity of the buoys.

We’ve done outreach around buoys through workshops, we’ve even had pancake breakfast related to the buoys, and there was a popular social media account for a while. Looking at our web stats, the buoys are, by a factor of 10, the most popular thing on our website. Not to mention we get emails when the buoys aren’t out in a timely manner. All of this shows how the buoys really are a great reflection of the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant mission.

Renie: Speaking of that fact, that the buoy pages are by far the most popular on our website, Les, who are all these people? Who is using the buoys?

Les: The majority of our users are the general public, so like I said, anybody who is planning a trip to the beach or the lake, in general, and wants to know the current lake conditions. But they’re also highly used by recreational boaters, and local charter boat fishing captains who want to know conditions offshore. But, yeah, definitely the public and general recreationalists are our largest audience.

Renie: What about the National Weather Service? Are meteorologists part of the website hits?

Les: They’re not coming directly to our website. The data is actually transmitted directly to them. On the website, that’s the general public using those pages.

Renie: Tell me more about the information they’re getting from the buoys. What can they learn that’s important to factor into their day or their plans?

Les: The main measurements that the buoys are recording are wind speed and direction, wave height and direction, and air and surface water temperatures, which can give an idea of the swimming temperatures at the beach. Also, our buoys are equipped with a thermistor string that takes the water temperature every three feet going down. Charter captains taking their customers out on the lake use them frequently—they want to know what the temperature is at various depths to better target different fish species.

The buoys are primarily equipped to measure real-time conditions. Each buoy transmits the conditions every 10 minutes not only to our webpages, but to the National Weather Service and the National Buoy Data Center. That is the general hub where most of the different buoys around the Great Lakes are depositing their data. The data is actually publicly accessible and downloadable. For researchers, it’s a really nice place to go and get historical data sets. Our data goes back all the way to 2013, when we first started deploying the Michigan City buoy, so it’s a huge repository of historical and current data.

We also have webcams on each of the buoys that transmits 30-second videos. For folks that may not be as well attuned to what two-foot or three-foot waves look like, they’re able to look at that webcam feed and see what the conditions are like.

Many of our buoy users know that it records at the top of the hour, and it’s a pretty common thing that they try to get try to get recorded waving at the camera. Buoys can be fitted with a ton of different sensors, such as water quality or estimates of blue-green algae fluorescence. They can be customized depending on the audience and users and what kind of questions folks are trying to answer. Even though there’s this huge network of buoys, they’re not uniform by any means in terms of the data they’re collecting.

Stuart: One thing you point out, Les, is that a lot our buoy activities rely on strong partnerships, especially when it comes to deploying and maintaining the buoys. Can you talk about some of the partnerships we’ve developed over the years?

Les: We have partnerships with GLOS, which is the Great Lakes Observing System. They are a huge nonprofit that works with so many different entities that own and deploy buoys. Their goal is to bring us together and to network and work together. GLOS is a huge collaborator, not just for setting us up to work with other entities, but also helping to provide supplemental funding for upgrades and repairs at times. We also work very closely with the company Freeboard Technology, from whom we purchased the buoys. They assist us when glitches occur and make sure that the buoys keep transmitting data throughout the summer season. The National Weather Service is a strong partner. Then there’s Cary Troy in the Department of Civil Engineering here at Purdue. He helped spearhead the buoy program when we first deployed the Michigan City buoy.

And then, it takes a lot of hands to keep the buoys in the water sometimes, so David Klein is a recreationalist who helps us out. When we need an extra set of hands with deploying or retrieving buoys or doing maintenance, a lot of times he’s out there to assist. Even sometimes, the general public lends us a hand with information.

Renie: What sort of challenges has the buoy team dealt with over time?

Les: As far as I’m aware, 2013 was the first season, so we’re going into our 13th year here of having the Michigan City buoy. The Wilmette buoy was deployed in 2015, and then we added Chicago in 2021. Mostly, we’ve had to update the infrastructure. Folks have noticed that we’ve had a couple buoys break away in the last year or two. A lot of that is just aging mooring lines, and the infrastructure that keeps them anchored. That should now be all updated.

We’re also working through the long-term challenges of making sure that the program is sustainable so that it can continue forward for hopefully another 13 years.

Renie: It’s the dawn of a new buoy season. What’s new this year?

Les: Many of our users will notice new, upgraded webpages for each of our buoys this summer. The goal is to have all three pages up and running by Memorial Day weekend. These new webpages will display the data in a newly designed format that will hopefully make it easier for our users to quickly get the information they are looking for.

Further, the Michigan City buoy is getting a full retrofit upgrade. Many of our users might be familiar with the very large buoys that were out on the water previously. Michigan City was our last large buoy. It’s being retrofitted to a new, smaller hull, which will make it easier for deployment and retrieval. But it’s also getting updated wave and wind sensors, so it’s basically going to be a new buoy that’s going to be deployed off Michigan City.

Stuart: So we have a lot of small buoys now, right? The first small one, of course, was Chuoy—that’s what most people call the Chicago buoy. What are the trade-offs with the smaller ones versus the larger ones?

Les: The buoys started off at a very large size because of the amount of battery power needed. The large buoys can hold a lot of batteries and they have higher solar charging capabilities—because they’re larger, you can have more solar panels on them. As technology has improved, like with most devices, we’ve been able to shrink buoy size. The smaller ones are a manageable size—two people can actually lift one up and move it, compared to the old buoys that you needed a crane, or some kind of lifting device to get one in and out of the water.

When we’re thinking about lake conditions getting rougher sometimes during the summer, especially when bigger storms come through, these smaller buoys, because they weigh less, don’t have as much force when they get tossed around. The small buoys can kind of, more or less, float through rougher waves.

The old buoys, these heavy objects being tossed around had a little more force. When Michigan City broke free in the fall, it was an instant 12-foot wave that came through, and it probably was enough force to snap that mooring line.

The Michigan City buoy is being reformatted into a smaller, more efficient size this year.

Renie: How many times have we had buoys on the loose?

Les: Chuoy’s only been out for four seasons, and it’s broke free for two of them so for some reason Chuoy has a track record of breaking free. But besides that, I’m only aware of Michigan City last year. I’ve been told that it’s more common than you think.

Renie: Going forward, what’s next?

Stuart: The buoys we have now are a part of IISG’s commitment to expanding our sensing in the Great Lakes and in southern Lake Michigan in particular. For example, we just put in a camera at the Dunes National Park that will soon take regular photos and video of the conditions there. We have a water quality monitoring station on Trail Creek in northwest Indiana, thanks to our partnership with the Höök Fish Ecology Lab here at Purdue. We are looking at expanding our buoy program by introducing some spotter buoys, potentially later this summer or next year. These are smaller buoys that will record key data in a way that’s a little more flexible and cost-efficient. We’re looking to expand our relationships with GLOS and other partners to continue to be leaders in data collection in southern Lake Michigan and beyond. It’s all part of our mission, which is to help bring cutting-edge science to the people. With buoy data, it’s easy: university scientists want it, agency scientists want it, boaters want it, the people want it, right? This data is clearly something that’s very important, and so we’re glad to have that as part of our portfolio.

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

At the recent Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo weekend event, where costumes, celebrities, and fandom ruled the day, many people were drawn to a booth with a giant postcard-like sign that said “Greetings from Lake Michigan.” There, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) engaged over 1,200 people of all ages with games, challenges and information about the lake and its ecology, and even aquaponics.

Using the framework of the Subnautica video game, Karter Burgdorf, aquatic invasive species (AIS) outreach associate, was the mastermind of this project, and Maggie Lawrence, aquaponics workforce development associate, his partner throughout. They were joined by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign biologist Phil Anderson and three of his students. Anderson leads the U of I Cosplay for Science organization on campus.

Visitors had the opportunity to build a food web and learn the importance of plankton as the base of the system; to take part in decontaminating alien bacteria from toy spaceships, reflecting the importance of not transporting aquatic invasive species; and to design their own aquaponics system. (Aquaponics is a closed growing system that allows fish and plants to thrive in water that is recirculated for the benefit of both organisms.)

IISG’s Maggie Lawrence discusses plankton as an important part of the aquatic food web with a young visitor to C2E2.

Most of Lawrence’s interactions were with attendees who had never heard of aquaponics or aquaculture. Still, they caught on quickly. “Every aquaponic system design was different in its own unique way. Every system design could have worked—some with a little tweaking—but still they had the right idea after only a few minutes of learning,” she said.

Burgdorf was surprised and gratified by the number of children that have some knowledge about AIS and food webs in Lake Michigan, and that they made the connection with the spreading of germs. “Several children wanted to help me clean every single spaceship we had—they really seemed to enjoy having a meditative activity,” he added.

The bright, colorful nature of the booth and the activities attracted many visitors. “Once they approached us, it was very rare for someone to not want to participate or, at the very least, hear our messaging. In my opinion, this sort of work is what outreach should be—getting out there to where the people are and meeting them where they’re at,” said Burgdorf.

Welcome to the winter edition of Sea Grant Chats. This February marks a major milestone: 30 years of aquatic invasive species outreach by our team. To celebrate, Renie Miles and I sat down with two key figures in that history: Pat Charlebois, our assistant director and program leader, who spent over two decades leading our prevention efforts, and Katie O’Reilly, who took over that role in 2022. We discussed the evolution of the invasive species issue in the Great Lakes, the shift toward understanding human behavior, and the creative strategies that make this team so effective.

Renie: Stuart, what do you think are the strengths of the program’s AIS team and the work they do?

Stuart: I think our AIS team is extraordinarily successful for a few different reasons. The first one is that they use interdisciplinary science in a way that is particularly effective. We don’t do a lot of natural science research at Sea Grant, but we speak with natural scientists frequently to learn the latest information on AIS in terms of effects, controls, and things like that. But our AIS team also relies on social and behavioral sciences to help inform their programming.

They’re also really good at working with people who matter on this issue. You see them working with bait shops, lake management associations, resource managers. They’re finding key places and partners to really amplify their message.

We’re going at about 30 years of aquatic invasive species being a key issue in the Great Lakes. And not coincidentally, that’s about how long our AIS team has been working on it, right? We were on the ground floor doing this important work. I think people understand that we are knowledgeable, we are trustworthy, and we’re good partners.

Renie: Pat, speaking of 30 years, early on, what were some goals and challenges to do successful outreach?

Pat: Invasion biology was not a thing at that time. It was a new discipline for all intents and purposes. We didn’t have the science to know the potential impacts in the Great Lakes when these species started showing up. We had to rely on their behaviors and impacts in other types of systems to be able to forecast or guess what they would do in the Great Lakes. Sometimes we got it wrong and our trust was affected because we said, oh, we think this is going to be terrible, and then it wasn’t—like the round goby didn’t end up having the predicted impact, at least in most cases.

We have risk assessments now that give us a much better snapshot into what a new organism may or may not do. When the round goby first arrived in the Great Lakes, we were getting scientific papers translated from a colleague working in the Black Sea. We were scrambling. We had to gear up to get information out starting at ground zero every time there was a new species. And it seemed like there was a new one every week, but it was probably every year.

But then that changed when we started focusing on the pathways of introduction. We didn’t have to scramble as much because the same pathways were at work for each species. There was less need to develop outreach tools because they were basically the same steps for preventing everything.

It was also a challenge to be a female in a male world. When I started, I would go to meetings where it was 30 men and me, and I was the only female working on AIS in the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network. I was a lot younger than some of the people I was working with, and they’d been working in the profession for a while, so it was a challenge to prove myself as both a young person and a woman.

Stuart: I think the strength that it takes to fight through that—it takes a particular kind of person, and a particular strength.

Katie: That is truly a trailblazing thing that Pat did, and it set the program up to be where we’re at today.

Renie: Katie, how do you see things today? What are the team’s goals and challenges?

Katie: Today in the Great Lakes, I think there is a widespread awareness about invasive species, generally. We, as scientists and science communicators, have done a pretty good job of raising some of that awareness. I think we’ve also made strides in reducing the number of invasive species through outreach and regulations. I wouldn’t say we’ve turned off that faucet, but it’s more of a slow drip now. We’ve reduced the rate of introductions.

We still have a lot of species that are already here in the Great Lakes and are now spreading into inland water bodies or just moving around the lakes. We always have the threat of new species in trade, related to aquariums or bait shops. That’s part of the reason the AIS team has focused on communicating about pathways of introduction for invasive species—there’s always going to be some new species on the horizon.

In terms of our ultimate goal, which is reducing the introduction and spread of invasive species, we want to make sure we’re incorporating the human side of things because humans are the ones moving these guys around. So that means understanding why people do the things they do and what they value. Do they value being able to go fishing? To share traditions? Is it their livelihood?

It’s a challenge and an opportunity for us. A lot of my team, myself included, have a biology or ecology background so we work with social scientists to combine their expertise with the biological science of invasive species. Developing an understanding of human behavior and motivation helps us address specific pathways.

We’re probably never going to stop invasive species completely, but we’re trying to have people change their behavior so that they reduce the risk of it. This means that sometimes we have to think outside the box to address some new and increasing challenges.

Stuart: The AIS team at IISG and in the region—because this is an issue that we work on regionally—has been kind of relentlessly creative and experimental in what they’ve done. Everything from geofenced ads for people at a certain conference to airplane banners, and now we’ve installed boat cleaning and drying stations. Sure, we’re at a time when the questions are not getting easier, but harder, but I think we’re in a good position to be ready for that.

Renie: Let’s do a little, “how it started,” “how it’s going.” Pat, how and why did “Be A Hero” get started, and how did it roll out early on?

Pat: Because the Great Lakes was ground zero for a number of AIS, the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network was involved with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop national messaging, which was “Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers.” After a number of years of using the campaign, we worked with a social scientist to evaluate it.

The social science research found that in Illinois, the message wasn’t resonating. The term ‘hitchhiker’ had become less relevant for younger generations. The public found the steps outlined in the campaign to be confusing, and some steps were less likely to be adopted, for example, power washing your boat. If folk weren’t going to power wash their boat, why keep telling them to? We wanted to remind them of the steps we knew they were willing to do. That, for me, had the biggest influence in wanting new messaging.

Illinois DNR (Department of Natural Resources) agreed with us and provided the funding to develop a new brand, which became Be A Hero–Transport Zero. We developed boat landing signs that were at every Chicago area boat ramp, and at every DNR-owned boat ramp, so they were fairly ubiquitous throughout the state.

We promoted Be A Hero for a few years with recreational water users, and then we wanted another brand for organisms-in-trade because we had hired Greg Hitzroth and were working on that pretty heavily. We were thinking we would create something different, but DNR steered us towards developing a parallel message with Be A Hero–Transport Zero, which became Be A Hero–Release Zero.

Renie: Katie, how would you describe Be a Hero now, in terms of success stories?

Katie: The message of Be a Hero does seem to resonate with audiences in Illinois. There was a survey done by one of our frequent collaborators, Tim Campbell of Wisconsin Sea Grant, a few years back, that looked at audience familiarity with different AIS campaigns. Be a Hero had really high brand recognition in Illinois. It showed that our efforts to bring awareness to the campaign and messaging have had some impact. Today, the way we deliver the Be A Hero messaging takes a variety of forms, whether it’s airplane banners or truck wraps, or billboards.

Pat: Building on what Katie said about the recognition of our brand, at Loyola University, Ruben Keller and Kelly Garbach did an analysis before 2020 about AIS outreach in Illinois, and our messaging was sort of the hub. I would think that fact has only gotten stronger.

Katie: Our DNR partners see the value in having an Illinois-specific campaign that is recognizable, that people know what the general gist is: to be a hero, you are going to clean your boat. If you’re being a hero from the aquarium side of things, you’re not going to release your pets into water bodies. A benefit of Be a Hero having more of an Illinois and northwest Indiana focus is that it really does make it local and relevant to users.

Stuart: We’re the glue that holds a lot of organizations together, or a lot of projects together. A good current example of that is the Invasive Crayfish Collaborative. There’s this growing problem of invasive crayfish throughout the Midwest and a real need to gather scientists, natural resource managers, people who are doing outreach, and, eventually, end users and other stakeholders.

Pat: There had been several instances of crayfish showing up in different areas in the Great Lakes, and so in 2017 we thought that through a formal collaborative, there could be more communication and a better use of resources. It made sense for IISG to do it, given my background in crayfish. So, we got a grant and then got sustained funding through GLRI (Great Lakes Restoration Initiative).

Katie: It got off to a good start. There was a crayfish community science project that got going, but like a lot of things, due to the pandemic, people got a little disconnected. When I joined IISG in 2022, we were thinking of ways to reinvigorate the ICC, seeing a lot of value in it.

We wanted to make sure we were serving the needs of our members, so we brought in a lead facilitator, Natalia Szklaruk. We did listening sessions and some strategic planning and we’ve really seen those efforts pay off. We have really good turnout at events, but the main thing I see as a success is that ICC members see enough value in it that they come to us as a potential project partner. I’ve been told anecdotally that ICC members understand that Sea Grant has the expertise to help facilitate and bring groups together. By having us on a project, they feel more confident that their results can make a difference.

Renie: Katie, what are you excited about going forward—short-term and long-term?

Katie: I think what I’m most excited about in the short term is that we have a lot of cool and innovative ideas lined up for this year to do outreach a little differently. For example, one of our staff members, Karter Burgdorf, is organizing a cosplay science event at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo in late March, using a unique venue to do some science outreach to audiences that we haven’t connected with much.

We are putting together a crayfish care guide for educators. This is a cool example because Izzy Paulson and Natalia decided that, while they could create a fact sheet, they could also do something more creative, like putting together a zine. It would have information about crayfish care that will be mixed with some art activities for students.

Long term, something I’m excited about is the collaborative nature of the AIS team. We are lucky to have a decently large team, which allows us to do some cool brainstorming and collaboration. At the core, what makes me excited is that we’ve got a team that is really excited and creative and wants to keep up the legacy of the AIS program that started 30 years ago.

Stuart: Our AIS program hit a lot of things right. The work started at a time when AIS was going to become one of the key environmental issues in the Great Lakes. And it started with the right person in place on the right issue. AIS is probably our largest team, and it’s probably the team that we as a program learn the most from. We are lucky to have this team, but I wouldn’t call it luck, I would call it a confluence of a critical issue with a total dynamo who worked on that issue at just the right time.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) welcomes a new member to the team—Laura Esman is now the program’s research and reporting coordinator. Located at Purdue University, Esman will oversee research competitions and manage IISG’s research portfolio.

She will also spearhead IISG data collection and lead the program’s annual reporting process.

Esman brings over 30 years of experience in research, project coordination and grant administration. Her most recent positions include managing director of the Indiana Water Resources Research Center, and lab manager and research associate in the Natural Resources Social Science Lab in Purdue’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources.

In these roles, she developed and oversaw budgets as well as managed dozens of research projects, often comprised of interdisciplinary teams at multiple universities. In addition, Esman communicated with key stakeholders to develop partnerships and inform target audiences.

Her research and outreach background at the federal, state, and local level cover a range of relevant topic areas and issues in the two states as well as the Great Lakes region, including water pollutants, aquatic invasive species, green infrastructure, and harmful algal blooms.

“Laura’s breadth and depth of experience make her a perfect fit for IISG, said Stuart Carlton, IISG director. “She is skilled at working with scientists to help identify and disseminate high-quality, highly relevant applied research.”

Esman has a master’s degree in environmental toxicology from Clemson University, and she earned her bachelor’s from Albion College.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) announces a new curriculum—”Ripple Effects” is a newly updated collection of hands‑on, inquiry‑based lessons that immerse 6–12 grade students in the science and real‑world challenges of the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in the Great Lakes region.

This curriculum provides opportunities for students to engage in research, reporting, and role-playing games and activities to learn why these non-native species threaten native ones, how they came to the region, and their impact on Great Lakes ecosystem dynamics.

“Through activities that explore how AIS are introduced, spread, and managed, students gain a deeper understanding of their impact on Great Lakes ecosystems, and the role young people can play in protecting them,” said Julie Fiorito, IISG Great Lakes K-12 education specialist.

The role-playing activity provides an engaging way for students to experience how invasive species can impact an ecosystem. As students, as part of a group, take on native or invasive species’ needs and behaviors, resources diminish, and the picture becomes clear. Other activities include developing research and analytical skills, as well as preparing and presenting information to the class.

Aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and Great Lakes Literacy Principles, the lessons can be used individually or combined as a comprehensive, progressive curriculum.

“As future leaders and decision makers, students benefit from learning how environmental issues like AIS shape the health, resilience, and sustainability of their communities,” added Fiorito.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) has not one, but two coastal resilience specialists who are providing support for communities along the southern Lake Michigan shore. These specialists came to Sea Grant from different disciplines and bring skill sets that complement each other.

Sarah Peterson is the program’s coastal engineering and community resilience specialist and as her title implies, she brings her engineering background to focus on coastal changes along the shore due to natural and human forces. She will also work directly with communities, sharing coastal process information and providing technical guidance on beach management solutions that can lessen the impact of changes over time.

She sees the implementation of shoreline structures as having dramatically altered the flow of currents and sand along the shoreline. “They can create a situation where sand accumulates updrift of a structure, leaving some downdrift areas sediment-deprived,” said Peterson.

The structures, which pose challenges for communities or even landowners with regards to sand management, can be of varying sizes—from massive harbors and piers to those that are suitable for maintaining sand on individual properties.

Peterson noted that significant water level fluctuations in Lake Michigan are a concern for communities as well, referencing the six feet of water level rise between 2013 and 2020. “It’s been challenging for existing infrastructure to withstand those dramatic changes as well as for communities to build new infrastructure that is resilient under both highs and lows.”

She added that high water levels can also exacerbate the problem of storm surges that can lead to more flooding, putting more infrastructure, homes, and people at risk.

Hillary Glandon is an aquatic ecologist and is focused on habitat fragmentation as a key issue in southern Lake Michigan waters.

“We used to have much more contiguous habitat that was better connected to our rivers and the nearshore wetland system—this was very critical for almost every species, which at some life stage uses the more protected, sheltered environment,” she explained. “Now, access to rivers and wetlands is limited due to development on land, but also marinas and other hardened structures along the shore. The bottom line is that there’s a lot of habitat loss.”

As IISG’s coastal ecosystem and community resilience specialist, Glandon brings her rich research history as a marine biologist to studying how geological processes influence the ecology of the lake’s nearshore waters. She is involved in several research projects to quantify aquatic life, including one funded by IISG before Glandon joined the program.

Despite the fact that Peterson is located in Indiana and Glandon in Illinois, they are not dividing their coastal resilience work geographically, but rather are leaning into their strengths.

“Hillary will have more direct interaction with research—she’s already doing a lot of great work up in Illinois Beach State Park.” said Peterson. “My role will be more focused on connecting with people on the ground at a community level. Together, we’ll be pulling relevant information and communicating it to the relevant audiences in the region.”

Peterson has been interviewing representatives from coastal communities, government agencies, and local groups to understand their needs and perspectives and how IISG can be a better resource when it comes to coastal resilience. The specialists are also connecting with other scientists.

They are compiling resources and have begun to develop new ones, including a video series that illustrates natural coastal processes and how structures along the shore can change these processes. Peterson and Glandon are also hoping to bring some newer approaches to communities looking for solutions.

“I think it’s fairly well understood that we need to stop hardening our shorelines,” said Glandon. “It’s not very useful for people to only hear that because they don’t know what else they should do. We’re trying to leverage research in a way that can provide actions for these communities.”

One approach is to implement nature-based solutions, which enhance, integrate, or mimic natural features for coastal protection and habitat restoration. To help introduce this idea, the specialists are developing an educational video that will explain the scope of nature-based solutions in Lake Michigan.

“For example, along the Illinois shore at Fort Sheridan, submerged structures have been installed. These rock piles mimic natural rocky reefs and act as a natural habitat for aquatic species, but also dampen some of the incoming wave energy,” said Peterson. “Also, the structures are below the water’s surface, so they don’t take away from the scenic views of these sites.”

One of Glandon’s research projects is to assess the effectiveness of the Fort Sheridan structures and the impact on species diversity and abundance. She will also be part of a study to evaluate the effects of 27 new breakwaters at Illinois Beach State Park.

“Because these breakwaters are parallel to the shore, which allows for sand transport, and the project includes beach nourishment and habitat enhancement features, it can be considered a nature-based solution,” she said.

In terms of other new opportunities, IISG is working with the Webcam Coastal Observation System and the Great Lakes Observing System to install cameras on at least one beach in the region that will monitor coastal processes and changes and may be useful as a resource for community groups, researchers, and outreach specialists.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) is pleased to announce that applications are now open for our 2026 Graduate Scholars Program.

The scholars program is designed to build a community of researchers and outreach professionals focused on solving critical Lake Michigan issues. Beyond financial support, the program introduces scholars to the people and organizations most affected by these issues, helping students amplify the real-world impact of their research.

IISG expects to support 6−10 graduate student scholars in 2026. Applicants may request up to $10,000 to support research expenses, stipends and travel. Applications are due by April 9, 2026.

Take note: Like many federally funded programs, IISG is currently experiencing unpredictable delays in funding. While we look forward to selecting a strong cohort, there may be a delay between selection and funding availability. Consequently, we strongly recommend that applicants have at least three semesters remaining in their program to ensure sufficient time to participate once funds are released.

Read the full request for applications for more information.  

In November, at the University of Illinois Extension Annual Conference, Eliana Brown, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant stormwater specialist, won an Individual Extension Excellence Award. Through her leadership and innovation, she has expanded Extension’s statewide stormwater and water quality education and community engagement. Brown spearheaded the Red Oak Rain Garden renovation and, through projects such as Illinois Groundwork, Rain Garden Rumble, and a new green infrastructure curriculum, she has reached tens of thousands and obtained nearly $300,000 in new grants.

The Red Oak Rain Garden, the first rain garden on the University of Illinois campus, was established in 2006, but a decade or so later, neglect and time had all but erased the efforts of the previous decade. Less than 10% of the original plants survived, and bare patches exposed tattered landscape fabric. The rain garden still soaked up excess rainfall, but when larger storms hit, sidewalks started to flood again.

Initiated by Brown’s focus and determination, the rain garden was renovated and expanded to improve both its aesthetics and functionality. The 12,000-square-foot garden now has more than 10,000 plants, representing dozens of species. It also serves as a demonstration site for landscape architecture, engineering and other university classes. Brown pioneered a stewardship model that combines community and student volunteers along with the campus Department of Facilities & Services Grounds. The garden is supported through a variety of funding sources and has partnerships with Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists.

Brown’s related green infrastructure education efforts include Illinois Groundwork, a one-stop shop for local decision makers and others who are interested in addressing stormwater problems through rain gardens and related options, and Illinois’ participation in the Rainscaping Education Program, which she leads. Coming soon is a new curriculum for green infrastructure maintenance training.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) announces its intent to support four new two-year research projects in 2026. These projects are in addition to six one-year IISG Graduate Student Scholar grants that began earlier in 2025. Altogether, these awards add up to $853,000 of support over the next two years.

The two-year projects include a study led by a Purdue University plant ecologist Insu Jo, who will assess the presence of heavy metals from local industry in sand dunes along the Indiana shoreline and the impact of these contaminants on plant communities.

Two more pollution studies will be led by civil engineer Marcelo Garcia at the University of Illinois and Andres Prada, a Prairie Research Institute environmental engineer, each of whom will explore the effects of rubber particles from tires and other road pollutants that are picked up by stormwater runoff and then flow into aquatic systems in the southern Lake Michigan region. As car tires age, microscopic particles detach during the course of normal driving.

Finally, a study led by Carena van Riper, an Illinois social scientist, will seek to understand why anglers value certain fishing locations—this research will help inform fisheries management agencies as they work to encourage interest in fishing in urban areas.

The IISG Scholars Program is an opportunity for graduate students in the two states to apply for funding that helps extend their doctoral research and provides professional development training and resources.

“The grad student scholars program allows us to fund cutting-edge research while training the next generation of Great Lakes scientists,” said Stuart Carlton, IISG director. “This year’s projects will address key issues affecting the region, ranging from coastal resilience to land use.”

On the subject of coastal resilience, Wei Wu at Purdue will use AI to create models of southern Lake Michigan communities to assess how they respond to extreme weather events or seasonal transitions. In particular, Wu is focused on areas affected by shoreline erosion, dune morphology, stormwater runoff and vulnerable infrastructure.

Another Purdue grad student, Tianle Duan will use models and real-world road use data to develop a near-real-time system for flood inundation mapping as well as flood depth estimates in the heavily trafficked southern Lake Michigan region. This will allow for timely assessments of community transportation network disruptions during flood events.

Two Illinois grad students’ research is focused on nutrient pollution. Yuanxin Song will explore nutrient pollution dynamics across the Lake Michigan basin, identifying pollution hot spots and modeling management scenarios to reduce nutrient loads. Similarly, Qianyu Zhao will use advanced modeling technology to develop an understanding of Lake Michigan nutrients, specifically focused on timing and locations, disentangled from the impact of human actions and weather.

Finally, two atypical Sea Grant projects will take place at Purdue. Dohyung Bang will examine how short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb or VRBO, affect housing values, rental prices and other economic factors in communities around Lake Michigan. This project will offer recommendations for balancing the economic benefits of short-term rentals with long-term housing needs as well as the social sustainability of local communities.

And, in the category of cutting-edge research, Diana Narvaez will create a prototype of a new type of lake wave energy harvester, ultimately aiming to use this technology to collect aquatic energy that can power electronics in freshwater environments.

For more information about IISG research, visit our website at iiseagrant.org/research/research-projects.