If you were a raindrop, where would you go? Can you drink your groundwater? Fourth through eighth graders will have a chance to wrestle with these and other questions related to preserving our most precious resource—clean, fresh water—at the 2012 Lake Superior Water Festival on Friday, Oct. 5 at Michigan Technological University’s new Great Lakes Research Center.
School classes can attend for a half-day in either the morning or afternoon. A wide variety of sessions—including hands-on activities, computer simulations, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), dancing and art focusing on the Great Lakes—will be offered. Michigan Tech faculty and students, as well as government agency and community artists and educators, will share their expertise with the 1050 students and teachers registered to attend.
Among 30 presentations:
· Assistant Professor Nina Mahmoudian (ME-EM) and Tech students Byrel Mitchel and Eric Wilkening will demonstrate the workings of GUPPIE, an autonomous underwater glider used to study underwater environments.
· Robert Handler of the Sustainable Futures Institute will reveal how combining fish farming and aquaponics—growing plants in water—can help both plant and animal crops grow better than either one could by itself, and clean the water too.
· Associate Professor Brian Barkdoll (CEE) and CEE student Samantha Dunne will explain how capturing stormwater can prevent it from polluting lakes and streams. He’ll also discuss innovative ways Michigan Tech is using manage stormwater on campus.
· Assistant Professor Rod Chimner (SFRES)) will take the students to a new coastal wetland restoration site at Michigan Tech, where they can see for themselves why wetlands preservation and restoration is important.
· Clare Tallon Ruen, with LakeDance of Chicago, will lead students in an unusual exercise: transferring what they’ve learned about the Great Lakes into “watery”movements.
· Rachel Guth and Chris Gagnon from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Marquette will talk about the invasive species in the Great Lakes, how they got there, what harm they do and what is being done to prevent their spread. They will bring live specimens.
· Steve Kickert, environmental education coordinator for the Ottawa National Forest, will share the secret life of trees.
· Other presenters include Keweenaw National Historical Park, US Forest Service, Friends of the Land of Keweenaw and Michigan Nature Association, .
The Water Festival is sponsored by the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society, Michigan Space Grant Consortium and the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition.
Directions to the GLRC: http://greatlakes.mtu.edu/
The Water Festival website: http://www.wupcenter.mtu.edu/education/water_festival/water_festival/index.html
To find out more, contact Joan Chadde, jchadde@mtu.edu or Lloyd Wescoat, lwescoat@mtu.edu by calling 906-487-3341. On the day of the Festival, call 906-369-1121.
Click To Submit Press Releases, News, Calendar Items, and Community Events to mediaBrew radio stations WFXD, WKQS, WRUP, GTO, Fox Sport Marquette, and 106.1 The Sound
Marquette, Michigan Calendar; Ishpeming Calendar; Negaunee Calendar; Gwinn Calendar; Negaunee Calendar and Events; Upper Peninsula Calendar of Events; Escanaba Events and Calendar