Outreach

The mission of GLERL Outreach is to inform constituents of the lab's scientific products, services, and expertise and to provide access to such resources as needed. GLERL constituents include the Great Lakes and coastal science communities, state and federal government agencies, state, national and international commissions, K-12 and higher educational institutions, professional scientific organizations, other non-government organizations (including the private sector), and the general public.

About Our Great Lakes - The Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) are the largest supply of freshwater in the world, providing drinking water to over 40 million U.S. and Canadian citizens. GLERL's About Our Great Lakes features an overview of the Great Lakes, including information about how they were formed and statistics about each lake.

Educational Programs - GLERL's staff is involved in local, regional and national educational programs such as the National Ocean Science Bowl, the Southeast Michigan Regional Science Fair, and the Partners for Excellence Program. They also play important roles in undergraduate, graduate and post-doctorate education programs.

Community Programs - Every year, GLERL scientists lead the Huron River Cleanup Day - an all-day cleaning effort that removes 20 cubic yards of refuse from the Huron River every year! GLERL also participates in the community through Open Houses, Tours and Take Your Child to Work Day.

Career Information - GLERL conducts research in the Great Lakes and other large freshwater ecosystems throughout the world, in a wide range of scientific areas. To accomplish its mission, GLERL employs aquatic biologists, chemists, geologists, oceanographers, limnologists, meteorologists, physical scientists, hydrologists, and ecologists. Our career page features information for those thinking about a career in Freshwater or Marine Science.

Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Office - Initiated in 2003, the Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Office at GLERL represents a first-in-the-nation effort to connect NOAA Research to the outreach capabilities of NOAA Sea Grant. The Extension Agent at GLERL provides information based on GLERL research to Sea Grant extension agents located throughout the Great Lakes region for use in their local extension programming and provides feedback to GLERL researchers on the research needs of the coastal constituencies served by Sea Grant extension as well as conducting direct extension and outreach programming. Web products include electronic newletters, photo galleries, seminar video archives, project information, and topical directories of GLERL publications and resources.