Purdue News
Purdue News
The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program now joins 26 other research institutions around the country charged with researching and promoting the wise use and conservation of America's coastal resources. The designation, issued by U.S. Department of Commerce, will allow the program to better respond to southern Lake Michigan issues and problems.
"This is the triple crown for top research universities," said Luis Proenza, research vice president for Purdue. "There are not many institutions that can demonstrate the research and outreach excellence it takes to qualify for designation as a land grant, space grant and sea grant university."
The new designation, upgrading the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program to the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, was announced at a Great Lakes environmental conference in Chicago today.
The designation also means Purdue and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the two cooperating institutions behind the program, are now Sea Grant colleges.
For the 8 million coastal residents of Chicago and northwestern Indiana, the change means Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant can better focus on topics ranging from troublesome foreign invaders such as the zebra mussel and round goby to nurturing yellow perch aquaculture to meet consumer demand for seafood while relieving the pressure on a jeopardized Lake Michigan fishery, said Phil Pope, director of Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.
The new designation also caps a sea change in fortunes for the small, 15-year-old Illinois-Indiana program, which was itself near extinction in 1993. Stripped of its core research funding by the national Sea Grant office in Commerce's National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the program was ordered to strengthen its outreach component, the Marine Advisory Service, and to focus on priority issues confronting the Great Lakes.
In 1994, Pope was named director and the headquarters was moved to Purdue's Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. The program concentrated on five priority areas: water quality; aquaculture; biological resources with emphasis on nonindigenous species; coastal processes; and coastal business and environment. Following yearly reviews by the federal office, the ability to compete for research funds was reinstated in 1995.
The Friday ceremony was proof that any reservations held by the federal overseers had disappeared, Pope said. The Sea Grant College designation followed another extensive national office review that evaluated the program on leadership, quality of research and outreach and relevance. Pope credits a nationally recognized aquaculture extension program, a strong marine science education curriculum for K-12 teachers, and targeted research on regional environmental problems in partnership with other area agencies.
For example, Pope said, Sea Grant added its support to the Indiana Inter-Agency Task Force on E. coli to help develop a novel method for tracking the bacteria that closes Lake Michigan beaches every summer. Other Sea Grant-funded researchers are using genetically enhanced bullhead catfish to serve as biomonitors to reveal any conditions that may threaten the aquatic ecology in the Grand Calumet River and other shipping channels.
Outreach and education efforts also garnered high marks from the national review team. The "Zebra Mussel Traveling Trunk," a grade-school science education kit for teachers, has won national awards for its usefulness in teaching students more about the nonindigenous species threatening to out-compete inland water species as well as clog water intake lines of electric power companies and other industries, Pope said.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant also has played a prominent role in nurturing the aquaculture industry in both states as both an alternative agricultural enterprise and a means of taking pressure off native fish stocks, he said. Sea Grant-funded projects have found ways to use Midwestern commodities such as soybeans for fish food, evaluated several fish species for cold-climate aquaculture suitability, and helped a number of fish-farm start-ups complete business plans and hook up with buyers.
Lastly, good people and partnerships helped put the program over the top, Pope said. Aggressive young scientists have been hired to bring their expertise to bear on the program priority areas. The specialists are based at Purdue and Illinois universities and partnering institutions such as the Illinois Natural History Survey and the Purdue Calumet campus. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant also helps support the efforts of 35 faculty at 11 universities in the two states and sponsors activities with 10 state and federal agencies involved in sustainable coastal development and natural resource issues.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce, Purdue and the University of Illinois.
Sources: Luis Proenza, (765) 494-2604
Phil Pope, (765) 494-3593
Writer: Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; e-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
