This spring, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) is sharing opportunities to further research, engage audiences with new information, and bring experts together to share knowledge and set new goals.

The 2024 Graduate Student Scholars program is ramping up, with the program open to graduate students from institutes of higher learning in Illinois and Indiana. Applicants can request up to $10,000 to support research expenses, stipends, travel, or other activities that help expand the scholarly or societal impact of their research. To see how this program is going, you can read blog posts describing past and current scholars’ projects in our newsroom.

We have developed two new IISG education products that offer exciting approaches to facilitate learning. Both products are currently being pilot-tested and will be available later in the year.

First, years of support for high schools that incorporate aquaponics into their STEM classwork has led to the development of a new curriculum. Aquaponics is a form of sustainable agriculture that connects raising fish and growing plants through an interdependent relationship. The IISG High School Aquaponics Curriculum is nine lessons that comprehensively cover aquaponics but is also designed so that an educator can pull out a single component to reinforce classwork.

The second educational tool brings Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC) to the classroom using 360-degree virtual reality technology. IISG’s Ashley Belle, Megan Gunn and their invaluable intern Xuanshu Lin developed an immersive experience along the Grand Calumet River in northwest Indiana.  Creating a novel way to introduce students to environmental science in the real world, the virtual reality images feature degraded areas of this AOC as well as sites that have been remediated and restored. The specialists also developed a complementary curriculum for use with middle and high school students.

In other news, I’d like to congratulate several well-deserved recent IISG award winners. Research Coordinator Carolyn Foley received the Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources 2023 Outstanding Administrative/Professional Staff Member Award. Carolyn was recognized for her leadership, resourcefulness, and selfless contributions to the department and IISG. Carolyn has served IISG’s research program since 2010 and is the primary contact for questions related to requests for proposals and IISG-funded research projects. She also developed and initiated the IISG Scholars Program in 2021.

Greg Hitzroth, our aquatic invasive species (AIS) outreach specialist, was chosen for the 2023 Illinois Lake Management Association Lake Guardian Award. Since 2012, Greg has worked to inform key audiences to help prevent the spread of AIS in Illinois waters and in the Great Lakes. As IISG has become the primary source of AIS outreach and education in Illinois, Greg has come to be seen as a regional expert regarding the “organisms in trade” pathway. This characterization came about through his efforts to develop well-informed outreach tools as well as his willingness to open new doors and try new approaches to this work. 

Spring brings a round of educational opportunities for us to share with residents, decision-makers, researchers, and partners too.

• To mark the fifth year of our native plant tournament, formerly known as “Mulch Madness,” we invite you to get ready for Rain Garden Rumble! The competition is in progress, but you can still get in on the fun. Visit the Red Oak Rain Garden’s social media pages, where you can vote for your favorite plants. Vote totals will determine which of the 28 plant species will move on to the next round and ultimately be crowned the 2024 champion.
• If you want more hands-on gardening knowledge, the Rainscaping Education program will hold a two-day training in Illinois’ Kane County; a how-to on installing rain gardens, a type of green infrastructure. Rain gardens can capture stormwater, helping to prevent floods and protect local water quality. The sessions on May 2 and 3 may include experiential training activities, field techniques, and field trips to view rainscaping projects.
• The 2024 Spring Fisheries Meeting will take place in the evening of March 28 at the Wilmette Harbor Club. Topics will include the offshore food web, largemouth bass in the Chicago River, and harvest patterns in nearshore Lake Michigan. If you can’t attend this in-person event, a virtual meeting and Q&A session with the speakers will take place on April 3. 
• Registration is open for the Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference on April 24–25. This virtual conference will feature 15-minute presentations and lightning talk sessions on the latest in emerging contaminant research, policies, and outreach in the soil, water, and air. Registration closes April 10.

Tomas Höök
Director, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

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.