About
WATER
Mission
of the Great Lakes WATER Institute
The Great Lakes WATER Institute is a University of
Wisconsin System research facility administered by
the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin
at Milwaukee. The mission of the WATER Institute is
to provide the State of Wisconsin with a focal point
for research, education and outreach aimed at a thorough
understanding of the Great Lakes and other aquatic
and environmental resources of local, state, national
and international importance. To achieve its mission,
the WATER Institute promotes a broad spectrum of multidisciplinary,
interactive aquatic and environmental research. The
Institute also promotes education and outreach through
the University and in cooperation with other educational
institutions. The WATER Institute is home to University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center
for Great Lakes Studies,
a UWM and UW System Center for Excellence, the Aquaculture
and Fisheries Research Center and the NIEHS
Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center.
From its dockside site in the port of Milwaukee, the
WATER Institute represents the only major aquatic
research institution located on Lake Michigan and
the largest U.S. institution of its kind in the Great
Lakes region. Under the auspices of the institution,
the UWM Center for Great Lakes Studies, a UW System
"Center of Excellence", conducts multidisciplinary
research throughout the lakes utilizing the Institute's
research vessel R/V Neeskay
The ship provides year-round access to the lakes and
a fully functional research platform and floating
laboratory. The Aquaculture
and Fisheries Research Center is a leader in developing new methods of producing
high quality seafood for the dinner table and new
entrepreneurial opportunities for Wisconsin citizens.
The Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources Southeast District Lake Michigan
Fisheries Management and Enforcement units operate out of the Facility to manage and protect
commercial and recreational fish harvest; and the
NIEHS Marine
and Freshwater Biomedical Core Center is conducting critical research on the toxicological
impacts and linkages between contaminants and the
health of humans and aquatic organisms.
History,
Facilities and Resources of the GLWI
The Great Lakes WATER Institute, located on approximately
10 acres of land on Milwaukee's inner harbor, was
constructed in 1965 by the Allen
Bradley Company as
a ceramic tile manufacturing plant. Known as the Allen
Bradley TEGA building, it was acquired by the University
of Wisconsin System in 1973 "to house the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Great Lakes Studies
and as a base for UW research vessels and scientists
from other campuses." The new facility was seen as
a "regional facility that can be used by all academic
institutions in the upper Great Lakes area."
Following acquisition, remodeling of the 130,000 assignable
square foot tile factory began to convert the building
into a modern UW research facility with state-of-the-art
laboratories for aquatic ecology, microbiology, hydrogeophysics,
biogeochemistry, fisheries biology and aquaculture,
behavioral ecology, chemistry, engineering and environmental
health. The site has 1,300 feet of deep water harbor
frontage equipped to berth and service research vessels
as large as 250 feet, providing a direct year-round
link between the research laboratories and Lake Michigan.
Support facilities include machine, instrument and
electronic shops, a small library, radiochemistry
laboratories, analytical chemistry laboratories, hazardous
waste storage facilities, and offices for administrators,
scientists, staff, and students.
As of 1996, 88,000 square feet of the facility were
regularly used as laboratories and office space, as
well as storage for small boats, equipment, and supplies.
Principal occupants currently include:
The Great Lakes WATER Institute also
provides periodic docking space for the US EPA's
research vessel the R/V Lake Guardian,
as well as a greenhouse of the UW-Milwaukee Department
of Biological Sciences.
Highlights
Since
1978, when the Great Lakes Research Facility (GLRC)
was first established as the physical home for the
Center for Great Lakes Studies, the evolution of
the two units has been marked by a number of significant
accomplishments, including, for example:
- In
1989, a Department of Education grant for $500,000
and state funds totaling over $800,000 remodeled
GLRC space and created a unique laboratory environment
and experimental aquaria facilities that today house
the National
Institute of Environmental Health Science Marine
and Freshwater Biomedical Core Center, a
full partner within the Great Lakes Research Facility
that has brought more than three (3) million in
research funds to the University over the last 10
years.
- In
1993 the State of Wisconsin invested more than $600,000
at GLRF for state -of-the-art freshwater aquaculture
laboratory, making this facility the best of its
kind in the U.S. The outreach program of the newly
established UWM
Aquaculture and Fisheries Research Center investigators are at the forefront of economic
development of aquaculture in the state of Wisconsin.
- In
its request to NSF for the Center's Research
Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Summer Institute program,
the Center's proposal was the highest rated program
in the eyes of the NSF panel and held as a model
for other programs at large. Since its initiation
in 1987 the REU program has brought more than 130
undergraduates from all across the country to work
with Center scientists. Over 50% of these students
go on to graduate studies.
- Gifts
from The Milwaukee Foundation in excess of $600,000
established two Shaw Distinguished Professor - Senior
Scientist positions within the Center for Great
Lakes Studies, and funded a Shaw Visiting Scholars
Program.
- The
Great Lakes WATER Institute has emerged as one of
the leading freshwater institutes in this country
in the use and development of underwater technology
in support of limnological research. Over the last
10 years, investigators working at the Center have
been involved in the first manned submersible and
unmanned robotics research dives in Lake Superior,
Michigan and Huron and in Lake Baikal (the largest,
deepest lake in the world) in eastern Siberia.
- The
Facility brought the highly regarded Jason
Project to Milwaukee and UWM. This program brings 15,000
MPS and local school children to UWM annually and
innovations within the UWM program are used as models
for other Jason sites around the country. The Center
played the key role in getting local industries
and foundations to support the Jason Project and
was awarded two prestigious Community Service Awards
in 1993.
- The
WATER Institute provides one of the best research
environments for graduate students within the University
of Wisconsin System. Students have been the recipients
of fellowship awards from NASA, the Mott
Foundation,
the National
Research Council, the International
Association of Great Lakes Research, the Great
Lakes Foundation, and others.
Resources
for Great Lakes Research
WATER Institute research programs and
support services are housed in the University of Wisconsin
System Great Lakes WATER Institute located on the
Milwaukee waterfront, one of the major Great Lakes
ports. The Facility has 1,300 feet of deep water dock
equipped to berth and service research vessels, providing
a direct year-round link between laboratories and
Lake Michigan.
The Institute operates a 22 meter (71') research
vessel, the R/V
Neeskay,
and several small boats. Institute facilities
include state-of-the-art laboratories equipped
for research in physical and chemical limnology,
geology, geochemistry and geophysics, aquatic
ecology, microbiology, molecular biology, fisheries
biology and aquaculture. Essential support facilities
include a machine and instrument shop; electronics
shop; analytical and radiochemistry laboratories;
and a reprint and current periodicals library
library with electronic access to data bases
world-wide.
The WATER Institute also serves other universities
in the region and provides space for Great Lakes programs
for state and federal agencies.
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