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Schedule

March 20: Public Symposium

Time Activity
7:30 Continental breakfast   
8:30 Welcome and introduction by Lifeng Luo, Director of the Environmental Science & Policy Program, featuring Ruelaine Stokes, Lansing’s Poet Laureate, and reading of “Distance, Social and Temporal; or The 2020s on Indian Time” by Zoe Johnson    
8:45 Opening remarks by President Guskiewicz   
9:00

Building Resilience along Michigan’s Great Lakes Shores: Partnerships, Data, and Policies 

Panelists:  

  • Ethan Theuerkauf, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University (MSU) 
  • Ronda Wuychek, Coastal Program Manager, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy 
  • David Bunte, Supervisor, Chikaming Township 
  • Richard Norton, Professor, University of Michigan  

Moderator: Josh Gunn, MSU Extension 

 
10:00 Break  
10:15

An academia-industry-government partnership that monitors and predicts outbreaks in Tri-County Detroit area since 2017 

Panelists:  

  • Irene Xagoraraki, Professor, MSU 
  • Russel A. Faust, Former Medical Director, Oakland County Health Division 
  • Michael Swain, Epidemiologist, Oakland County Health Division 
  • Anna Mehrotra, Director, Wastewater Surveillance Program, Water Environment Federation 
  • John Norton, Research Director, Great Lakes Water Authority 

Moderator: George Smith, MSU AgBioResearch 

 
11:30

Lunch featuring:  

  • Reading of "We Are Water" by Ruelaine Stokes, Lansing Poet Laureate 
  • Keynote address on Moving towards a Water-secure Future by Annalise Blum, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Interior   
 
1:00 Concurrent sessions featuring presentations from the MSU community and partners   
  Session 1 – The Challenge of Water for All  (Willy Room)  Session 1  - Water Science Around the World (Heritage Room)  
1:00

The two-edged sword of altruism in willingness to pay for water infrastructure and affordability programs. 

Sampriti Sarkar

Modulation of Extreme Precipitation in West Africa by the Madden-Julian Oscillation: Insights from Observations and CMIP6 Models. 

Coumba Niang

 
1:15

Evaluating the Impact of Numeric Phosphorus Standards on Nutrient Pollution in U.S. Waterways. 

Saesol Kang

Could cultural perceptions of communal water management among ethnic minorities be the solution in water-insecure coastal Bangladesh? A qualitative inquiry. 

Saleh Ahmed

 
1:30

Collaborating to Build Climate Resilience with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. 

Justin Simard

What Happens After the Boom? Stagnation, Continuity, Diversification, and Exit in Aquaculture in Central Thailand.  

Leo Baldiga

 
1:45

Collaborative approaches to understanding and predicting cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs). 

Elena Litchman

Are Systematic Inequalities in the Piped Water Infrastructure Paving Way for the Water Mafia?

Noormah Rizwan

 
2:00 Break 
2:15 Concurrent sessions featuring presentations from the MSU community and partners
  Session 2 – Advancing Modeling for Water Systems (Willy Room) Session 2- Monitoring Water and Health (Heritage Room) Session 2- Water Quality and Impacts    (Room 102) 
2:15

Integrated High-Resolution Flood Forecasting in the Great Lakes Basin: Coupling Hydrological and Hydrodynamic Models with Socioeconomic Risk Assessment. 

Amar Deep Tiwari

Michigan’s Wastewater Monitoring Program for Public Health Use. 

Nishita D’Souza

Flocculent Organic Sediments in Shallow Freshwater Ecosystems: Characteristics, Ecological Functions, and Research Opportunities.

Nudrat Fatima

2:30

Implications of lateral groundwater flow on global land surface modeling across different spatial resolutions. 

Tanjila Akhter

Enhancing Influenza A Virus Sequencing in Wastewater.

Anwar Kalalah

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in the sludge and biosolids matrix: distribution, persistence and innovation mitigation strategies. 

Qianqian Dong

2:45

Process-Guided Ensemble Deep Learning Models for Predicting Lake Temperature Profiles. 

Xin Lan

Metagenomic insights into diversity of viruses in untreated wastewater: from virus concentration to bioinformatic analysis. 

Yabing Li

Kinetics for mass transfer of TCDD from contaminated soils to activated carbon amendments. 

Lili Tian

3:00

Representing reservoirs in Earth system models. 

Ahmed Elkouk

Influenza A in wastewater correlates to health outcomes in two different sub-populations (Michigan, USA): Analysis of Influenza A & B, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2. 

Alexis Porter

Using stream chemistry as a tracer of thaw depth across Arctic Alaskan permafrost catchments. 

Amelia Grose

3:15

Assessing Agricultural Water Sustainability Using HYDRUS and Lysimeter for Deep Percolation in Sandy Soils. 

Nawab Ali

A Comparison of Variant Shifting of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus at Six West Michigan Locations. 

Leah Wilson

Are there differences in microbial community composition within the Saginaw Aquifer, the predominant source of drinking water for mid-Michigan? 

Carol Hogan

3:30 Break    
3:45 Concurrent sessions featuring presentations from the MSU community and partners
  Session 3 – Water Management (Willy Room) Session 3 – Water & Health (Heritage Room)  
3:45

On the Banks: An Environmental History of the Red Cedar River at MSU. 

Eric Tans

Tracking sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the Detroit metro area by molecular analysis of environmental sample. 

Liang Zhao

 
4:00

The Effects of a Mandatory Flood Risk Disclosure Law on Rent Prices in Texas. 

Iris Margetis

Optical Brighteners: Investigating a new/old method for bacterial source tracking as an indicator of human waste in the environment. 

Brian Scull

 
4:15

Irrigation adoption in a “water rich” environment: implications for future water resource management. 

Caitlin Nelson

Fecal Detectives: Identifying sources of microbial contamination of two heavily recreated streams entering Lake Michigan beaches. 

Brendan May

 
4:30

Making “Remote Sense” of Modern Annual Irrigation Extent Classifications within the United States. 

Jeremy Rapp

Impact of Rainfall on Fecal Contamination in a Michigan Watershed: A Study of Microbial Source Tracking. 

Wenjing Ren

 
4:45 Break    
5:00 Poster session and reception    

 

March 21: Symposium for MSU faculty, specialists, staff, & students

Time Activity
7:30 Continental breakfast 
8:30 Welcome, goals and overview of day by Joan Rose, Water Alliance Director
8:45

Panel discussion: Insights from funders, stakeholders, and decision-makers on priorities for water science, engagement, and education.  

Panelists: 

  • Jennifer Boehme, Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) 
  • Claire Chase, World Bank 
  • Samuel Passmore, Mott Foundation  
  • Cyndi Roper, NRDC 

Moderator: Doug Buhler, Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation 

9:45 Break
10:00

Concurrent panels in Water Alliance hubs: Connect funders, stakeholders, and decision-makers with hubs to identify needs and opportunities 

Panelists: 

  • Ecology Hub: Doug Craven (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians), Tammy Newcomb (Michigan Department of Natural Resources), Jerrod Sanders (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy) 
  • OneHealth HubSamuel Passmore (Mott Foundation), John Norton (Great Lakes Water Authority), Jennifer Boehme (GLOS) 
  • FEWS Hub: Claire Chase (World Bank), Laura Campbell (Michigan Farm Bureau) 

Moderated by hub leaders:  

  • Ecology Hub: Michael Wagner (Fisheries & Wildlife) 
  • OneHealth Hub: Amber Pearson (CS Mott Department of Public Health) and Wade Syers (MSU Extension) 
  • FEWS Hub: Matthew Schrenk (Earth & Environmental Sciences)
11:00 Break
11:15 Working sessions in hubs to explore current efforts and future opportunities 
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Working sessions in hubs to converge around action items and align participants with actions
2:00 Moving forward
2:30 Adjourn