This is a past event.

Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar

Speakers:              Noel Urban, Environmental Engineering , MTU

                                Hayden Henderson, Great Lakes Research Ctr, MTU

                                Trista Vick-Majors, Biological Sciences, MTU

                                Pengfei Xue, Civil, Environmental and Geospatial Engineering, MTU

                                Reagan Errera, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.

                                Elizabeth Minor, Professor of Chemistry, Univ. Minnesota-Duluth, Large Lakes Observatory

Bio-sketches:  

Noel Urban is a professor of environmental engineering specializing in biogeochemistry and surface water quality.  Prior to coming to MTU, he worked for five years in Europe (Switzerland, Germany) as a research scientist. 

Hayden Henderson is a Senior Research Engineer in the GLRC at MTU.  He is also currently working on a doctorate in Environmental Engineering.  Before coming to MTU, he worked for the EPA onboard the Lake Guardian and with the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research in Ann Arbor.

Trista Vick-Majors is an assistant professor in Biological Sciences.  Her research focuses on microbial ecology, particularly with regard to carbon cycling and permanently frozen lakes.

Pengfei Xue is a professor in the Water Resources area of the CEGE department, and he also serves as Associate Director of the GLRC. Dr. Xue’s is a hydrodynamic modeler focusing on atmosphere-large waterbody interactions particularly as related to climate change.

Reagan Errera is a research scientist at NOAA GLERL whose research focuses on climate change impacts on lakes and oceans particularly with regard to blue-green algae.

Liz Minor is a professor at UM-Duluth who focuses on carbon cycling in large lakes and oceans.

Abstract:  While ocean acidification is a phenomenon occurring throughout the oceans in response to elevated carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it remains uncertain to what extent the same phenomenon will occur in lakes, large or small.  Theoretically, large lakes also should be susceptible to CO₂-induced acidification.  However, the Laurentian Great Lakes have shown, if anything, an increase in pH in recent decades.  This research group was recently funded by the Ocean Acidification Program at NOAA to develop a monitoring and modeling system capable of detecting acidification in the Great Lakes.  This project will establish uniquely equipped monitoring moorings in Lakes Superior and Erie and will conduct seasonal monitoring of chemical and biological features of the lakes that could impact acidification.  The data that are collected will be used to calibrate and validate models of lake carbon cycling that also will be used to evaluate the relative importance of different lake processes in regulating the pH of the Great Lakes.  The project began in September 2025, so no fieldwork has yet been performed.  The moorings have been designed and constructed in the GLRC and will be deployed in May, at about the same time as the first monitoring cruises are conducted.  This seminar will explain the research strategy and the processes thought to be preventing the lakes from yet showing signs of acidification.