Projects Awarded After Congress Restores Funding For Sea Grant Program
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute is awarding $2.8 million to Great Lakes research and education projects. Congress recently restored $76.5 million in Sea Grant funding nationwide. The Trump administration had proposed eliminating the program.
Wisconsin Sea Grant recently announced funding for 19 research projects and 29 outreach proposals statewide for the next two years.
“The projects that are funded through 2020 should be solid because we have that funding,” said Jennifer Hauxwell, assistant director of research and student engagement for Wisconsin Sea Grant.
One project seeks to bring art and science together to educate at-risk youth about Great Lakes watersheds through an underwater photography program. [Northland College alumnus] Ian Karl works with troubled teens as an experiential program coordinator at the residential treatment center Northwest Passage.
“We snorkel throughout the watershed in lakes and rivers, and learn through exploration, and then document that learning through photography,” said Karl. “It really is a combination of science education, art education and opportunity for the kids to have a therapeutic experience in the water.”
That’s the most fun part of the project for Toben Lafrancois, assistant adjunct professor of natural resources and philosophy at Northland College in Ashland.