By Gary H. Piatek
Public policy and its impact on the Great Lakes is on the agenda for Central Michigan University’s fifth annual Great Lakes Science in Action Symposium on Friday, Oct. 19. There also will be a discussion on training the next generation of Great Lakes scientists.
The symposium will be from 9 a.m. to noon in the auditorium of CMU’s Biosciences Building, beginning with an introduction from CMU President Robert Davies. The event is free and open to the public. A copy of the agenda is available here.
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, is the keynote speaker for the symposium, which is hosted by CMU’s Institute for Great Lakes Research. Kildee is an alum of Central Michigan University and a lifelong Michigander, born and raised in the Flint area, where he resides.
He has built a reputation for protecting the Great Lakes and currently is leading a bipartisan initiative to prevent a Canadian company from permanently burying nuclear waste less than a mile from the Great Lakes.
Kildee is the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee and serves on the subcommittees for Housing and Insurance, Monetary Policy and Trade, and Trade and Illicit Financing. He is vice co-chair of the Automotive Caucus, where he works to promote the American auto industry, and he previously served as a member of the President’s Export Council, advising former President Barack Obama on trade deals concerning Michigan.
Panelists slated for the discussions on public policy include legislative aides for Kildee, U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan. Panelists for training Great Lakes scientists will be subject experts from the IGLR and CMU departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Geography and Environmental Studies, Biology and the Earth and Ecosystem Science doctoral program.
CMU is a recognized leader in studying the Great Lakes. The Institute for Great Lakes Research — with 30 faculty members — is supported by state-of-the-art facilities in Mount Pleasant and at the CMU Biological Station on Beaver Island. Central is overseeing its second $10 million EPA grant since 2010 to conduct Great Lakes wetlands research and allocates funds through this grant to nine other universities and three governmental agencies.
