Great Lakes Research Center

Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) Description

The Great Lakes Research Center will provide state-of-the-art laboratories to support research on a broad array of topics.  Faculty from many departments across campus will collaborate in conducting interdisciplinary research relating to air-water interactions, biogeochemistry, hydrodynamics and sediment transport, fisheries, invasive species and food web relationships, low impact development, and storm-water management.  The Center for Science and Environmental Outreach will provide K12 student, teacher, and community education/outreach programs utilizing the GLRC’s Extension and Limnology Teaching Labs.  The GLRC also contains a boathouse and convenient docking facility, providing a year-round home for Michigan Tech’s research vessel, the Agassiz.

The Great Lakes Research Center features public spaces where visitors will have an opportunity to observe visualizations of global environmental research via NOAA’s Science-on-a-Sphere, simulations of Lake Superior current patterns and water quality conditions on a 3D Geowall, real-time data output from vessels at sea and offshore monitoring stations, and unique underwater views delivered by remotely-operated vehicles. The Low Impact Development research team will operate a rain garden, green roof, and constructed wetland remediation demonstration area on the GLRC site.  A mesocosm research system, featuring several 300-gallon outdoor fish tanks will permit researchers to conduct ecosystem manipulation studies under natural conditions of light and temperature.

The Great Lakes Research Center also includes several large and small conference rooms supporting small group collaboration on-site, as well as video-conferencing with colleagues across the state and world. In addition, the GLRC boasts a 100-seat auditorium with ample space for receptions and other events with grand views of the Keweenaw Waterway as a backdrop.

See the Photo Gallery on Flickr

COMING UP

10th Biennial Lake Superior Youth Symposium
May 16-19, 2013 at Michigan Technological University

NEWS

Kerfoot to Receive Michigan Tech's 2013 Research Award

Tech, local community celebrate Lake Superior (Daily Mining Gazette)

Two from Tech Among Top 25 Education Professors in Michigan

Center for Water & Society World Water Day Poster Competition was held on Thursday, March 21, 2013. Cash prizes were awarded in 2 poster categories - Original Research and Informational/Coursework.

A. W. (Tony) England, Dale Karr and Roger DeRoo; “Measurement and Analysis of Extreme Wave and Ice Actions in the Great Lakes for Offshore Wind Platform Design” The University of Michigan, Tuesday March 5, 2013, Great Lakes Research Seminar Series

Bathy Boat, a highly portable, remote-controlled electric boat equipped with a depth sounder and GPS, and the Michigan Tech scientists who developed and use it, were featured in the Environmental Monitor. Bathy Boat began as a joint project between the University of Michigan and Michigan Tech. Now it is run by Michigan Tech's Great Lakes Research Center and the Michigan Tech Research Institute. See Bathy Boat

.A Rendezvous for Science—and a Whole Lot More from the Michigan Tech Research Magazine 2013

Professor Guy Meadows (GLRC) Seminar: Discovering Submerged Landscapes with Advanced Aquatic Sensors, February 15, 2013

After-school Science for Kids at the Great Lakes Research Center

Professor Guy Meadows (GLRC) was interviewed about rip currents in the Great Lakes on the program "Points North" on Interlochen Public Radio on Friday, Jan. 11. Listen to the program at Interlochen.