Posted 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 21, 2023
Support from state’s Freshwater Collaborative boosts UWL projects
La Crosse, Wis. — New funding from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin will support research, academics and youth programming at UW-La Crosse.
A trio of UWL projects will be included in the Collaborative’s $4.3 million investment in freshwater education across UW System over the next two years:
- A pilot study into the immune response of wild fish, led by UWL’s Tisha King-Heiden and UW-Madison’s Gavin Dehnert ($30,996)
- Three collaborative courses — Environmental and Health Effects of Water Pollution, Expedition to Lake Michigan, and Human Interactions with Lake Michigan Coastal Ecosystems — offered in partnership with UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, UW-Parkside, UW-River Falls and UW-Whitewater ($10,314)
- The My River Adventures Pre-College Camp, a six-day residential camp for students entering grades 7-12, designed to foster interest in water-related STEM fields ($136,018).
The funding is part of a statewide initiative, backed by the Wisconsin State Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers, to tackle Wisconsin’s water challenges and support curriculum development, undergraduate research opportunities, career development and field training experiences for students interested in studying water-related fields at the 13 UW universities.
“The most exciting thing about this latest round of funding is seeing how programs are becoming more interconnected. For example, high school students attending a summer camp in western Wisconsin are interacting with undergraduate students and faculty who are working on other Freshwater Collaborative-funded projects throughout the state,” said Marissa Jablonski, executive director for the Collaborative. “We can really see how these connections are building a pipeline from college recruitment to jobs in freshwater in Wisconsin.”