“The study is the first to look at plastic pollutants in the Great Lakes. It is part of a larger global endeavor to understand the origin and prevalence of plastic pollution in water and was conducted with the Los Angeles-based 5 Gyres Institute.“We had two samples in Lake Erie that we just kept going back and rechecking the data, because the count, the number of plastic particles in the sample, was three times greater than any sample collected anywhere in the entire world,” SUNY chemistry professor and project lead Sherri Mason said.”
Category:
In the news: Pollution leading to “plastic lakes”?
October 31st, 2012 by Irene MilesRecent News
- Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant seeks proposals for Seed Grant research projects in southern Lake Michigan
- Meet our Grad Student Scholars: Diana Alejandra Narvaez
- Sea Grant research helps inform communities and their residents about PFAS risks
- Meet our Grad Student Scholars: Tianle Duan
- Sea Grant Chats: Our buoys prove to be a popular resource
IISG Instagram
Happy Juneteenth from all of us at Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant!
Got a research idea for southern Lake Michigan?
IISG’s 2026 Seed Grant Research Competition is open. Up to $150,000 total funding for pilot studies that could become your next big project.
💵 $10,000 to $50,000 per project
⏰ Applications due August 17, 2026
Two info webinars coming up: July 2 and July 21.
🔗 Full details at the link in bio.
Add a Great Lakes twist to your summer reading! Discover stories inspired by our region with Great Lakes Great Reads. Check out reading lists perfect for beach days or quiet evenings.
https://greatlakesgreatread.org/
#BeachReads
Real-time coastlines, real-world insights. Check out the LIVE feed of Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park Beach – supporting recreationalists, researchers, and the broader public at the link in bio.
This work is in partnership between Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (@secoora_org), the Great Lakes Observing System (@greatlakesobservingsystem), Indiana Dunes State Park (@indianadunessp), Indiana Department of Natural Resources (@indianadnr), and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant with support from Surfline (@surfline).
Check out IISG’s website for more information on this collaborative project at the link in bio.
Also featured on Seagull and Indiana Coastal Atlas.
Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources
University of Illinois Extension
Southern Lake Michigan Water Safety Task Force
US National Weather Service Chicago Illinois
Save the Dunes
Shirley Heinze Land Trust
Indiana Dunes National Park
Indiana Dunes
Friends of Indiana Dunes, Inc.
Categories
- Aquaculture
- Aquatic Invasive Species
- Buoys
- Climate Ready Communities
- Coastal Resilience
- Director's Blog
- Education
- Featured
- Fellowships
- Fisheries
- Funded Research
- Funding
- Great Lakes Cleanup
- Great Lakes Data
- Healthy Waters
- Internships
- Jobs
- K-12 Education
- News
- Photos
- Program
- Recreation & Tourism
- Resources
- Sea Grant Scholars
- Stormwater & Green Infrastructure
- Sustainable Community Planning
- The Helm
- Uncategorized
- Video
- Water Resource Economics
