News & Announcements

Invasive species are perhaps the greatest stressor currently facing the Great Lakes aquatic ecosystem. Some of them, like the Asian carps, have been identified as potential invasive species. Asian carp are highly abundant in the Illinois River and have been captured 47 miles away from Lake Michigan. They threaten to invade the Great Lakes and disrupt aquatic food webs and fisheries through their voracious consumption of large volumes of plankton. CIGLR has produced models for Lake Erie that show if Asian carps were to invade, they would dominate the fish community and seriously devalue the vital recreational and commercial fisheries present there. Currently, Dr. Hongyan Zhang, Peter Alsip (University of Michigan graduate student) and colleagues are working to develop similar ecosystem models to assess the Asian carp threat in the other Great Lakes and their embayments.

Specialists at U-M’s Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research are getting out of the lab and onto the lakes, enlisting those whose livelihoods depend on clean water.

Let’s meet CIGLR Aquatic Ecology Research Tech, Christine Kitchens. She is a recent 2017 graduate from the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. She completed her graduate work with CIGLR Research Scientist Dr. Thomas Johengen; and currently, she works full-time with CIGLR monitoring summer harmful algal blooms in Western Lake Erie and Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. In a “CIGLR Minute” Christine highlights her work and research and talks about what she enjoys most about her job and working on the Great Lakes.

Lake effect snow storms have huge impacts on transportation, public safety and business revenue. Recently, great improvements have been made to forecasting lake effect snow and scientists from CIGLR are a part of it. Dr. Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome, CIGLR Assistant Research Scientist, and Lindsay Fitzpatrick, CIGLR Atmospheric Data Analyst, recently collaborated on an article that discusses instruments and models that can help improve the accuracy of lake effect snow forecasting.

In this Issue: New CIGLR Impact Poster; Winter Announcements; Video Spotlight; Research Features: Forecasting the Future of Lake Effect Snow, Predicting Great Lakes Ice. Sign up to receive CIGLR’s quarterly eNews and stay informed about Great Lakes research and events.

CIGLR is excited to announce the opening of our 2018 Great Lakes Summer Fellow applications! The Great Lakes Summer Fellows Program exposes students to a broad range of disciplines and provides an exciting opportunity for students to conduct research in the Great...

CIGLR Spotlight Series: Let’s meet CIGLR Research Technician David Wells. In a ‘CIGLR Minute’ David highlights the work and research that he does at CIGLR and talks about what he enjoys most about his job and working on the Great Lakes.

Join us for the 12th Marine Technological Society (MTS) Buoy Workshop at the Michigan League, located on the University of Michigan Campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to present and share your buoy-related work and projects. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 CIGLR Competitive Programs. These three postdoctoral fellowships, two graduate research fellowships, and two summits will advance important areas of Great Lakes research and build collaboration among our partners and NOAA. Thank you to all who contributed and congratulations to the winners!

CIGLR is excited to announce the opening of our 2018 Great Lakes Summer Fellow applications! The Great Lakes Summer Fellows Program exposes students to a broad range of disciplines and provides an exciting opportunity for students to conduct research in the Great...