Lectures and Discussions

A highlight of the 2020 Great Lakes Theme Semester was a speaker series surveying key issues confronting the Great Lakes and the peoples who depend upon them. Each session was structured as a panel of three to four presenters speaking briefly on an aspect of the session’s theme, engaging in dialogue as a panel, and then opening the floor for audience participation. An informal gathering, offering more opportunities for the campus community to interact with the speakers, followed each session.

Dynamic Lakes and Lake Dynamics
January 13, 2020

Drew Gronewold, UM SEAS; Guy Meadows, Michigan Technological University; Susan Och, Leland Township Parks and Recreation. Moderator: Dick Norton, UM Taubman. Featuring Special Guest: EGLE Deputy Director James Clift

The Fishery - Living in Living Systems
February 3, 2020

Cory Brant, US Geological Survey/Great Lakes Fishery Commission; Richelle Winkler, Michigan Technological University; Amber Peterson, The Fish Monger's Wife; Matt Hehn, In the Net Charters. Moderator: Marc Gaden, Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Great Lakes Histories - Indigenous Cultures through Common Futures
February 24, 2020

Margaret Noodin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Dave Dempsey, For the Love of Water; Clare Lyster, University of Illinois at Chicago. Moderator: Jen Read, UM Water Center

Complex Systems Seminar | "Using a wetland community-ecosystem model to explore ecosystem interactions and dynamics from a perspective of complex adaptive systems"

January 30, 2020
William S. Currie, Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

ConEco Seminar | "Oligotrophication in Lakes Michigan and Huron and Potential Effects on Fisheries"

February 21, 2020
David "Bo" Bunnell, USGS Great Lakes Science Center

Great Lakes Seminar Series | "Linking microbial communities and biogeochemistry across the Laurentian Great Lakes"

March 3, 2020
Dr. Maureen Coleman, Assistant Professor, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago

Science Café: Something Fishy in Lake Michigan

February 19, 2020
Bo Bunnell, U.S.G.S. Great Lakes Science Center and U-M School for Environment and Sustainability; Yu-Chun Kao, MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability; Ed Rutherford, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.

From the Great Lakes to the Global Water Crisis: Writers on Water

February 25, 2020
Donovan Hohn, Anna Clark, Keith Taylor, and Margaret Noodin, Michigan Quarterly Review

Lake Sturgeon: Past, present, and future of an ancient fish

February 27, 2020
Matt Friedman, Director, U-M Museum of Paleontology and Associate Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences; Karen Alofs, Assistant Professor, U-M School for Environment and Sustainability; Doug Craven, Director, Natural Resources Department, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

Listening to Object Witnesses: Decolonizing Research in Museum Collections

March 4 and 10, 2020
Margaret M. Bruchac, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania

Freshwater Stories: Optics, Governance, and Adaptation around the Great Lakes

March 9, 2020
Rachel Havrelock, founder and director, UIC Freshwater Lab

Growing Up Near the Great Lakes

March 10, 2020
Elizabeth Goodenough, Lecturer, University of Michigan Residential College

The Science Forum Demos were engaging 15-20 minute science demonstrations that helped participants see the world in a whole new way. Demonstrations were appropriate for visitors ages 5 and above.

Great Lakes Water

January 25 & 26, 2020
Museum of Natural History

Home Sweet H.O.M.E.S.: Exploring the Great Lakes

Weekends, February 1 - 29, 2020
Museum of Natural History

Home to 84% of North American surface fresh water, complex ecosystems, and more than 30 million people, the Great Lakes are the backdrop for all life on both of Michigan’s peninsulas. Science Forum Demos explore their natural history, current human impact, and the challenges for the future. Can you guess where the oldest fossils are? Or how much of the world’s accessible fresh water the Lakes contain?