04/07/2026: Harnessing genomics to characterize diversity in Great Lakes ciscoes across space and time
2026-04-07 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Detroit) | NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, 4840 S State Rd, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm EST
Location: NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Lake Superior Hall and Virtual*
Presenter: Amanda Ackiss, Fisheries Biologist, Great Lakes Science Center – USGS
Title: Harnessing genomics to characterize diversity in Great Lakes ciscoes across space and time

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About the presentation:
At the end of the Pleistocene, many salmonid fishes in the subfamily Coregoninae rapidly diversified in newly available freshwater habitats across the northern hemisphere. In terms of evolutionary time, these species flocks are incredibly young, and many instances of diversification appear to have occurred in sympatry rather than allopatry, leading to incomplete lineage sorting. The difficulty disentangling species relationships in this subfamily has been termed the ‘coregonine problem’ and has severely limited the ability of scientists and managers to draw robust conclusions regarding best practices for their conservation and restoration. This is particularly vital in the Laurentian Great Lakes, where overfishing, habitat degradation, and the introduction of invasive species in the 20th century led to precipitous declines in the largest documented radiation of coregonines in North America, the Coregonus artedi species complex. Many of these impacts have been mitigated in recent decades, and interest in restoring lost populations of these important prey fishes is growing, calling for a better understanding of relationships between members of this species complex. In this talk, I will discuss how we are leveraging new genomic tools to elucidate historic and contemporary differentiation and to explore the mechanisms of divergence in the Great Lakes C. artedi species complex in support of on-going conservation and restoration efforts.
About the speaker:
Amanda Ackiss is a Fish Biologist at the US Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, MI. She earned her B.A. in Media Studies at the University of Virginia before pivoting back to the field of science and earning her Ph.D. in Ecological Sciences at Old Dominion University. During her Ph.D. she gained expertise in molecular ecology, genomics, and bioinformatics studying the diversity of fishes in the Coral Triangle region of southeast Asia before accepting a postdoctoral research position at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point that introduced her to the cisco species complex of the Great Lakes. Amanda’s lab at the USGS Great Lakes Science Center now focuses on applied genomics at the interface of speciation and spatial ecology to support bi-national coregonine conservation and restoration efforts.
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*IMPORTANT VISITOR INFORMATION
As of July 2025 the GLERL facility can no longer accept visitors for the Great Lakes Seminar Series due to staffing shortages. Please attend virtually using the link above.
All seminar attendees are required to receive a visitor badge from the front desk at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory facility. Attendees need to present a valid U.S. photo ID or green card. If you are a Foreign National, we encourage you to attend virtually. For questions regarding building access, please email Margaret Throckmorton at throckmj@umich.edu. Additional questions? Contact Margaret Throckmorton: throckmj@umich.edu; visit ciglr.seas.umich.edu for more information.

4/16/2026: Exploring the role of nitrogen substrate availability in the ecology of Microcystis-dominated CyanoHABs
2026-04-16 12:00 - 13:00
Please join us for a Great Lakes Seminar Series – subscribe!
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET
Location: Virtual or NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Lake Superior Hall*
Presenter: Jenan Kharbush, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Title: Exploring the role of nitrogen substrate availability in the ecology of Microcystis-dominated CyanoHABs

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About the presentation: “Nitrogen availability” refers to the amounts of biologically usable nitrogen forms relative to demand by the biological community. In cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) dominated by the non-diazotrophic cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa, nitrogen availability is critical for the production of the nitrogen-rich toxin microcystin, and may also play a role in shaping M. aeruginosa strain composition and relative abundance of toxic and non-toxic strains. During the annual CyanoHAB in Western Lake Erie, both the dominant form of nitrogen (organic vs. inorganic) and M. aeruginosa strain composition shift as the bloom progresses, as does the heterotrophic bacterial community composition in M. aeruginosa colonies. Recent metagenomics and culture-based work suggests that some of these heterotrophs may be involved in nitrogen acquisition and cycling processes with Microcystis. In this talk I will discuss some of our recent efforts to understand the influence of nitrogen form on Microcystis bloom ecology, via both strain-specific adaptations and interactions with other community members such as heterotrophic bacteria. This includes examining how nitrogen form influences exometabolite production in cultured M. aeruginosa strains, as well as using nano-secondary ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS) to measure how cell-specific nitrogen uptake in field communities changes with bloom phase.
About the speaker: Jenan is an Assistant Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Michigan. She earned her PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where she developed an appreciation for the complexity of microbial life and the outsized influence microbes have on their environment. At U-M, her research group studies how aquatic microorganisms, particularly phytoplankton, acquire and use nitrogen, including during CyanoHABs. They combine laboratory culture experiments with field-based environmental observations to link cellular-level nitrogen cycling processes to large-scale geochemical patterns in both modern and ancient environments.
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*IMPORTANT VISITOR INFORMATION
As of July 2025 the GLERL facility can no longer accept visitors for the Great Lakes Seminar Series due to staffing shortages. Please attend virtually using the link above.
All seminar attendees are required to receive a visitor badge from the front desk at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory facility. Attendees need to present a valid U.S. photo ID or green card. If you are a Foreign National, we encourage you to attend virtually. For questions regarding building access, please email Margaret Throckmorton at throckmj@umich.edu. Additional questions? Contact Margaret Throckmorton: throckmj@umich.edu; visit ciglr.seas.umich.edu for more information.

05/06/2026: Leveraging behavioral insights to improve outreach and protect water quality
2026-05-06 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for a Great Lakes Seminar Series – subscribe!
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Adam Reimer, Outreach & Evaluation Scientist, National Wildlife Federation
Title: Leveraging behavioral insights to improve outreach and protect water quality

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About the presentation: Achieving conservation aims in the Great Lakes region, including protecting water quality, enhancing wildlife habitat, and building community resilience, often relies on voluntary actions by farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners. Numerous agencies, organizations, and policies support farmer adoption of soil health practices, improved nutrient management, and managed tile drainage. Despite decades of effort, adoption of key practices has lagged what is needed to reach larger conservation goals. National Wildlife Federation has worked with producers and conservation professionals for over a decade to improve outreach and conservation communications to reach new audiences and expand adoption of key practices. NWF programs apply insights from social and behavioral science to increase organizational capacity and identify novel strategies for increasing conservation adoption. This presentation will share key insights from NWF programs and outline research and extension needs to scale up adoption in the Great Lakes region.
About the speaker: Adam Reimer is the outreach and evaluation scientist at the National Wildlife Federation. He has training in interdisciplinary social and agricultural science with a PhD from Purdue University. Adam has an extensive research background exploring farmer and landowner conservation decision making and the role of policy and social networks in conservation outcomes. At NWF, he helps support local and farmer-led conservation outreach throughout the Midwest by leveraging social and behavioral sciences to develop effective engagement strategies.
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*IMPORTANT VISITOR INFORMATION
As of July 2025 the GLERL facility can no longer accept visitors for the Great Lakes Seminar Series due to staffing shortages. Please attend virtually using the link above.
All seminar attendees are required to receive a visitor badge from the front desk at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory facility. Attendees need to present a valid U.S. photo ID or green card. If you are a Foreign National, we encourage you to attend virtually. For questions regarding building access, please email Margaret Throckmorton at throckmj@umich.edu. Additional questions? Contact Margaret Throckmorton: throckmj@umich.edu; visit ciglr.seas.umich.edu for more information.

09/16/2026: Growing Aquaculture in the Great Lakes: Aligning Regional Action with National Trends
2026-09-16 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for a Great Lakes Seminar Series – subscribe!
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Location: Virtual or NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Lake Superior Hall*
Presenter: Dr. Lauren N Stigers, Extension Educator, MSU Extension and Michigan Sea Grant
Title: Growing Aquaculture in the Great Lakes: Aligning Regional Action with National Trends

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RSVP to Attend In Person & Join the Seafood Tasting!
About the presentation: Aquaculture now supplies most of the world’s seafood (57%), yet the U.S. remains heavily reliant on imports, producing only 11% of its seafood through aquaculture and carrying a $24.2 billion seafood trade deficit (FAO 2024; NMFS 2024). Freshwater aquaculture—primarily catfish, crawfish, and trout—generated $872 million in 2022, and recent analysis shows U.S. aquaculture contributes $4 billion annually in production with several‑fold broader economic impacts (Kumar et al. 2024). Despite this national significance, aquaculture for food remains underdeveloped in the Great Lakes region, where research and management have long centered on recreational fisheries.
This seminar will connect national and regional perspectives on U.S. aquaculture growth. Mrs. Kristine Cherry (Chief, Regulatory and Policy Branch, Office of Aquaculture, NOAA Fisheries) will provide a brief overview of the direction U.S. aquaculture has taken in recent years, describing new policy initiatives and research investments that are working to foster sustainable U.S. aquaculture development at the national level. Dr. Stigers will present on several key initiatives that have been fundamental for supporting aquaculture in the Great Lakes region. Her initiatives include many collaborative projects focusing mainly on Great Lakes’ (1) governance and sustainability of seafood systems, and (2) consumer education and aquaculture literacy.

About the speaker: Dr. Lauren Stigers is a Michigan Sea Grant Extension Educator based in the Houghton–Hancock area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She specializes in aquaculture, commercial fisheries, seafood processing, and science‑based outreach, connecting industry needs with research, education, and community priorities. With a background spanning applied research, workforce development, and policy communication, Dr. Stigers leads collaborative initiatives that strengthen Great Lakes seafood systems, support working waterfronts, and advance sustainable aquaculture across Michigan.
Following the seminar, please join us for a Great Lakes Seafood Tasting. Experience Michigan fresh fish from local producers and gain insights through first hand interactions with industry professionals. Please be aware of allergies when signing up for the seafood tasting.
Space is limited, so use the link above to RSVP today!
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*IMPORTANT VISITOR INFORMATION
All seminar attendees are required to receive a visitor badge from the front desk at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory facility. Attendees need to present a valid U.S. photo ID or green card. If you are a Foreign National, we encourage you to attend virtually. For questions regarding building access, please email Margaret Throckmorton at throckmj@umich.edu. Additional questions? Contact Margaret Throckmorton: throckmj@umich.edu; visit ciglr.seas.umich.edu for more information.

10/08/2026: Streamflow Forecasting using Physical-Aware AI/DL Models and Improving the Precipitation Forecasts at the Subseasonal-to-Seasonal Scale in Support of Adaptive Reservoir Operation
2026-10-08 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for a Great Lakes Seminar Series – subscribe!
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Location: Virtual or NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Lake Superior Hall*
Presenter: Dr. Tiantian Yang, Associate Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), University of Michigan
Title: Streamflow Forecasting using Physical-Aware AI/DL Models and Improving the Precipitation Forecasts at the Subseasonal-to-Seasonal Scale in Support of Adaptive Reservoir Operation

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About the presentation: Reservoirs and lakes are fundamental and multi-functional water infrastructures that collect, store, and deliver surface freshwater for a multitude of uses, including flood and fire control, recreation, wildlife habitat, residential, industrial, agricultural practices, irrigation, hydro-electric power generation, drought mitigation, and more. It is also a critical engineering environment that intervenes with both the hydrological cycle and human factors. Reservoir and lake release decisions, inflow forecasting, and storage management directly influence various aspects of socioeconomic functioning and our nation’s water resources’ security. In recent years, more frequent and severe abrupt weather extremes, natural hazards, aging infrastructure, and increased water demands due to population growth have placed another significant barrier preventing the effective, sustainable, and adaptive operation of the existing reservoir and lake systems. Therefore, new technologies and innovations are critically needed to improve the existing reservoir and lake operation and management, i.e., the “status quo”, of built water systems in our nation.
In support of adaptive reservoir operation, in this talk, Dr. Tiantian Yang will present his current research on enhancing streamflow prediction at subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) timescales by improving precipitation forecasts and hydrologic simulations through the integration of physical hydrologic models and physically-aware artificial intelligence and deep learning (AI/DL) tools. These hybrid models aim to retain the interpretability and physical consistency of traditional models while leveraging the pattern recognition and scalability of AI/DL. Case studies will demonstrate how these hybrid AI/DL models perform in forecasting flood events across hundreds of watersheds over CONUS, and how the precipitation could be better predicted at the S2S scale using existing seasonal forecast models

About the speaker: Dr. Tiantian Yang is currently a tenured associate professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan (UM) at Ann Arbor. Before joining UM, Dr. Yang was a tenured faculty in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (CEES) at the University of Oklahoma (OU). He was the associate director of the OU Hydrology & Water Security online master’s degree program at OU. Before becoming a faculty member in OU and UM, Dr. Yang worked in the private sector for a few years in Deltares Netherlands, whose former was Delft Hydraulics and GeoDelft University. During his time in the private sector and consulting world, Dr. Yang served many U.S. federal agencies as clients, including Bonneville Power Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the National Weather Service and its 13 River Forecast Centers. Dr. Yang was an AGU Hydrology Section Early Career Awardee (2025), and also an NSF Early Career Awardee (2023).
Dr.Yang obtained his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) in 2015, mentored by NAE and Distinguished Professor Dr. Soroosh Sorooshian. Yang’s master’s degree was in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC Irvine (2010). His bachelor’s degree was also in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Tsinghua University, China (2009). Yang’s work is mainly supported by the NSF, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), DoD Engineering With Nature (EWN), the American Council for Education (ACE)’s International Partnership Program, NOAA, and the DOE’s Clean Energy Research Center on Water-Energy Technology (CERC-WET) Program.
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*IMPORTANT VISITOR INFORMATION
As of July 2025 the GLERL facility can no longer accept visitors for the Great Lakes Seminar Series due to staffing shortages. Please attend virtually using the link above.
All seminar attendees are required to receive a visitor badge from the front desk at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory facility. Attendees need to present a valid U.S. photo ID or green card. If you are a Foreign National, we encourage you to attend virtually. For questions regarding building access, please email Margaret Throckmorton at throckmj@umich.edu. Additional questions? Contact Margaret Throckmorton: throckmj@umich.edu; visit ciglr.seas.umich.edu for more information.

11/05/2026: Algorithmic Foundations for Widespread Autonomous Marine Observation
2026-11-05 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for a Great Lakes Seminar Series – subscribe!
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Location: Virtual or NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Lake Superior Hall*
Presenter: Dr. Alan Papalia, Assistant Professor, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, University of Michigan
Title: Algorithmic Foundations for Widespread Autonomous Marine Observation

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About the presentation: TBD
About the speaker: Alan Papalia is an assistant professor in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he runs the Robotic Exploration Lab. He received his PhD in Ocean Engineering from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research focuses on algorithms to enable robots to explore, study, and understand the natural world, with an aim of dramatically increasing the amount and types of data we have access to. He is a recipient of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award and was selected as a 2025 Robotics: Science and Systems Pioneer.
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*IMPORTANT VISITOR INFORMATION
As of July 2025 the GLERL facility can no longer accept visitors for the Great Lakes Seminar Series due to staffing shortages. Please attend virtually using the link above.
All seminar attendees are required to receive a visitor badge from the front desk at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory facility. Attendees need to present a valid U.S. photo ID or green card. If you are a Foreign National, we encourage you to attend virtually. For questions regarding building access, please email Margaret Throckmorton at throckmj@umich.edu. Additional questions? Contact Margaret Throckmorton: throckmj@umich.edu; visit ciglr.seas.umich.edu for more information.
