DETROIT – A collaboration between Wayne State University and the Michigan Environmental Council has been awarded funding from University’s Grand Challenges research program to study environmental groups in the Great Lakes Basin.

“There are hundreds of groups spread throughout the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces working to protect this critical resource,” noted Conan Smith, Environmental Council President and CEO. “Understanding the issues these groups are working on, what they do and how they interact will help increase their effectiveness.”

The project will involve surveying environmental groups and conducting a series of regional workshops to help identify connections and gaps, information flows and which issues are most important. Mapping this network of groups will also strengthen the kind of information sharing and collaboration that improves advocacy for policy and legislation that addresses issues such as PFAS contamination, data centers, invasive species and Line 5. The project will enhance understanding of how the current patchwork of scientific knowledge, environmental advocacy, policy and management works together to address water resources and contamination challenges throughout the Great Lakes.

“The Great Lakes are facing so many challenges right now, and we need to involve the public in collaborative governance of this essential resource,” noted Dr. Donna Kashian, Professor of Biological Sciences at Wayne State and President of International Association for Great Lakes Research.  “We have been given this amazing resource, which includes 20% of the world’s fresh water, and we must work to protect it.”

The Environmental Council is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization formed in 1980, whose mission is to champion lasting protections for Michigan’s air, our water and the places we love. With over 100 member environmental and conservation organizations from across the state, they work to drive forward enduring and equitable policies that protect Michiganders and steward our globally-rare resources.

The Wayne State team includes Donna Kashian, professor, biological sciences and environmental science and geology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Shawn McElmurry, chair, civil and environmental engineering, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering, Matthew Seeger, distinguished university professor, communication, College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts; Richard Smith, professor and associate dean, School of Social Work; and Kristin Taylor, professor, political science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Canadian partners include Anneke Smit, Associate Professor, and the founder and inaugural Director of the Centre for Cities at the University of Windsor Law. 

Wayne State’s Grand Challenges program is sponsored by the Division of Research & Innovation to leverage research that addresses society’s most urgent challenges through pioneering research, cross-disciplinary collaboration and purpose-driven education. Funded projects aim to turn discoveries into tools that improve lives, strengthen economies and build a better tomorrow that impact the local community and beyond. To learn more, visit: https://research.wayne.edu/grand-challenges.