Jan Ciborowski (University of Windsor photo)

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.

IISG Instagram

Exciting news! The call for sessions for the 2026 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference has been extended! We are excited to offer the opportunity to propose a speaker or panel session during the 2026 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference April 28-29.  The conference will feature traditional 15-minute presentations and a poster session on the latest in emerging contaminant research, policies, and outreach in the soil, water, and air.The deadline to propose a session is September 30, 2025.Learn more at go.illinois.edu/ecec or the link in bio
Stay safe and have fun this Fourth of July with these 5 water safety tips! Click the link in bio to learn more ways to keep yourself and others safe as you enjoy the Lake Michigan beaches this holiday.
Four science educators from Illinois and Indiana have been selected for the 2025 Shipboard Science Immersion on Lake Michigan July 7-13. The educators will spend a full week alongside researchers aboard the EPA research vessel Lake Guardian. Afterwards, they will bring Great Lakes science back to their classroom. Learn more and meet the four incredible teachers representing Illinois and Indiana at the link in bio.
🌿 Educators—Explore Restoration in Action! Join us Thursday, July 31 at Purdue Northwest (Hammond, IN) for a FREE full-day workshop diving into the transformation of the Grand Calumet River Area of Concern.🚍 Tour restored sites🧠 Engage with VR curriculum📚 Earn 6 PD hours🥐 Breakfast & lunch included🔗 Register now at the link in bio and bring real-world science to your classroom.Register by July 21st.
Skip to content