GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute

08/31/2026

GVSU students are back on campus for the first day of classes today and our graduate students have a head start on their research - they all started working at AWRI earlier this summer! Help us give a warm welcome to the newest researchers at AWRI, then read more about our grad students and their projects at https://www.gvsu.edu/wri/graduate-students-16

08/28/2026

Dr. Bopi Biddanda and the crew of NOAA­’s Buoy Tender R5501 were featured in a "Postcard from the Field" by the American Geophysical Union's Eos news website for launching AWRI's Muskegon Lake Observatory buoy for its 16th year. https://eos.org/postcards/an-observatory-keeps-watch-on-a-great-lakes-estuary

Want to see real-time data from Muskegon Lake, including water temperature and chlorophyll concentrations? Find it for free online at https://www.gvsu.edu/wri/buoy/!

Dear Eos, Muskegon Lake, in west Michigan, is one of over 100 drowned river mouth estuaries in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin of North America. We are on board NOAA­’s Buoy Tender R5501, having just deployed the Muskegon Lake Observatory buoy seen in the background (left to right, NOAA’s Andr...

08/28/2026

As Lansing explores the possibility of hosting the first Bubble Barrier in the U.S., researchers at MSU and GVSU are bringing a miniature version of the technology to communities along the Grand River.

The mini model will demonstrate the technology and help gauge community concerns around the bubble barrier.

This project is led by the MSU Water Alliance alongside the GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute, corporate partners, state agencies, and the city of Lansing.

Read More: https://water.msu.edu/feature/mini-model-gathers-community-feedback-lansing-bubble-barrier

08/25/2026

AWRI is hiring a new Business Manager to be responsible for financial operations and provide strategic input as a member of the AWRI administrative team. Learn more about the role and apply by September 14, 2026 at https://gvsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/careers/job/Muskegon-MI/Business-Manager---AWRI_R104925.

08/19/2026

Congratulations to the graduate student Mitchell Olszewski, who successfully defended his thesis, titled “Evaluating E. coli Contamination of the Outer Mucus Layer on Freshwater Fish.” A summary of Mitchell's thesis is featured as a spotlight at gvsu.edu/wri.

08/06/2026

Congratulations to our undergraduate interns who shared the results of their research with other students, faculty, and staff at AWRI's annual summer research symposium! Great job, everyone!

08/06/2026

Casting fyke nets on Muskegon Lake, the is helping to assess the fish community for the Muskegon Lake long-term monitoring project. The nets are set three times a year at four locations around the lake, with a crew returning after 24 hours to collect, measure, and then release the caught fish and turtles back into the water.

This data provides insights into the fish community, habitat, and water quality of Muskegon Lake. It also benefits anglers, community members, and educators.

🐟Want to learn more? Visit the Muskegon Lake Long-Term Monitoring Project website: gvsu.edu/wri/muskegonlake

08/05/2026

Step into the environmental chemistry wet lab and you’ll likely find Brian Scull prepping samples for analysis. For the past 23 years, he has led and supported research happening at AWRI. This lab can process and analyze chemical and microbial samples, including phosphorus, nitrogen, calcium, and E. coli. From analyzing samples to invoicing, Brian does it all!

In the wet lab, Brian assists ongoing research within different AWRI labs, along with outside organizations like conservation districts and lake associations. Brains says his favorite part of his work is helping with student research projects, stressing that continuing to fund sample analysis for natural resource research is critical.

Interested in sampling water or soil for yourself or your organization and curious about sample costs? Check out the prices, analysis time, and more: gvsu.edu/wri/wetlab

08/04/2026

Where do data scientists go camping? A random forest! 🌲

A “random forest” is a data science method that uses lots of data points to find patterns, making it the perfect camping spot for a data lover!

The data scientist, Bennett McAfee, has an interdisciplinary role at that combines computer science, mathematics, and specific knowledge - like environmental science for us! Data scientists aid in research by creating ecological models of past, current, and future environmental factors, with their changes and interactions. This type of work is essential not just for researchers, but for communities. Predicting what is or can happen will let researchers better understand ecosystems while preparing communities for potential change.

Bennett explains his work focuses on “extracting as much information as possible from real time data.” Much of the work goes into obtaining raw data, cleaning it, examining relationships among different data points, creating equations for those relationships in code, and using those equations to build models.

One of Bennett’s current projects is the Global Lakes Metabolism Respiratory (GLAMR). GLAMR is a centralized, public repository of estimates of ecosystem metabolism and related data for lentic water bodies worldwide. Bennett has been working on this project for about a year, helping to build a massive, reliable, open-source data collection. Another modeling project he has done looks at zooplankton movement in the water column over a day. Bennett is also helping the with angler surveying and our outreach team create a faster way to enter surveys from the organizations we host.

Have questions about these projects? Drop them below so we can ask the expert!