By Stephen Wittman

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 23, 2004) – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl announced today that the National Sea Grant College Program has awarded the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute $1.96 million to support the first year of its federally approved 2004-06 program.

  

Coupled with $1.38 million in matching funds from the State of Wisconsin, the federal grant will support 27 Great Lakes-related research, outreach and education projects during 2004-05 involving more than 100 faculty, staff and students at seven UW System campuses (UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay , UW-La Crosse, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior and UW-Manitowoc).

“We’re pleased and excited to be able to fund research in several high-priority areas of concern to Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region,” said UW Sea Grant Director Anders W. Andren . “These include the effects of zebra mussels and other invasive species on Great Lakes ecosystems, satellite monitoring of Great Lakes water quality, yellow perch aquaculture, and cutting-edge molecular-level biotechnological studies of dioxin toxicity in fishes. We’ll also be supporting a study of the sources of bacterial and viral contamination causing Lake Michigan beach closings.”

Other UW Sea Grant research projects include analysis and modeling of Great Lakes food webs, assisting Wisconsin coastal communities with “Smart Growth” planning, improving scuba diving safety, and investigating the resuspension, transport and deposition of Green Bay and coastal sediments. The grant will also support the work of six Sea Grant outreach specialists who provide free statewide assistance in aquaculture, toxic contaminants and water quality issues, coastal engineering, marine safety and education, geographic information systems, and invasive aquatic nuisance species and recreational and commercial fishing.

Education projects during 2004-05 include continued sponsorship of the Madison JASON project, an annual international science program for area middle school students, and the popular “Recent Advances in Limnology and Oceanography,” a public seminar series at UW-Milwaukee now in its third decade. UW Sea Grant will also help sponsor the Lake Sturgeon Bowl, a statewide “quiz bowl” competition at UW-Milwaukee for selecting a Wisconsin high school team to compete the annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl, and it will continue to co-produce the “Earthwatch” public service radio program with the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison. The grant will also support a public education project on Wisconsin ’s Great Lakes shipwrecks by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

For more information about the UW Sea Grant program, please see our home page.

For More Information:   

Anders W. Andren, Director, UW Sea Grant Institute, (608) 262-0905
Stephen Wittman, Communications Coordinator, (608) 263-5371
Allen H. Miller, Assistant Director for Research and Outreach, (608) 262-1136
Mary Lou Reeb, Assistant Director for Administration and Information, (608) 263-3296

Conceived in 1966, Sea Grant is a national network of 30 university-based programs of research, outreach and education dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of the United States' coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources. The National Sea Grant Network is a partnership of participating coastal states, private industry and the National Sea Grant College Program , National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration , U.S. Department of Commerce. The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program is administered by the Sea Grant Institute on the UW-Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin.

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posted 12 May 2004  by Karl

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/communications/news_releases/20004/2004Grant.html