KathiJo Jankowski, VT EPSCoR

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The VT EPScoR Streams Project Involving students
and the community in water research

• KathiJo Jankowski, VT EPSCoR
• Declan McCabe, St. Michaels College

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What is the Streams Project?

• Collaborative effort by high schools, colleges
  and community partners around the state to
  collect water quality data on small streams

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Goals of the Project

• Service to the state of Vermont
• Collect water quality data on streams of
  importance to VT
• Provide data to UVM modeling group effort to aid
  VTs environmental management
• Workforce Development
• Interaction of faculty, undergraduates, high
  school teachers and students
• Practical experience in scientific research
• Fostering diversity in future workforce

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Research Questions

• How do land use patterns affect the physical
  condition and water quality of small streams?
• How does water quality change in response to
  precipitation events? How might this response
  vary based on land-use patterns?

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Data we collect

• Water Quality based on EPA volunteer stream
  monitoring guide http//www.epa.gov/volunteer/stre
  am/index.html
• Physical land use, riparian zone, and stream
  habitat assessment total suspended solids
  precipitation water temperature discharge
• Chemical Total phosphorus, pH
• Biological Total coliform/E. coli, benthic
  macroinvertebrates

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Participants
High Schools (14) collect biological, physical
and chemical data in streams near their schools
UVM (7) work with high schools do laboratory
analysis of water samples carry out
independent project
Baccalaureate College Faculty (3)
Undergraduates (14) Complementary research
projects with community partners or working with
high school data
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Baccalaureate Colleges

• St. Michaels College
• Middlebury College
• Johnson State College
• Sterling College
• Norwich University
• Green Mountain College
• Universidad Metropolitana

Faculty Science Leaders Drs. Declan McCabe and
Sallie Sheldon
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Video
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Database

• http//www.uvm.edu/streams/scripts/View_Streams_D
  ata.php

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Undergraduate faculty buy in

• Compatibility with college missions
• Faculty scholarship
• Undergraduate research
• Outreach and recruiting
• Timing!
• Faculty input at design phase
• Project appeals to faculty interests and skill
  sets
• Ongoing faculty input

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Strengths of the program

• Undergraduate students as teachers
• Leadership opportunities
• Service learning
• Flexibility
• Divergent needs meet diverse interests
• Multiple shared data types
• Different investigators, different parameters,
  same streams
• Online data sharing

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The macroinvertebrate lab at Saint Michaels
College

• Undergraduates teams sample high school sites

• Samples
• Picked
• IDed
• Photographed
• Data uploaded

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Saint Michaels College output

• Galleries specific to school sites
• Photographic ID help

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Partnerships and collaborators

• Farley Anne Brown1, Steve Fiske2, Robert B.
  Genter3, Charles J. Goodnight4, Christina
  Goodwin5, Alfred W. Hoadley6, KathiJo Jankowski7,
  Kim Komer5, Declan J. McCabe8, Carlos F.A.
  Pinkham9, Jim Ryan2, Sallie Sheldon10, Judith Van
  Houten4,6
• 1Sterling College 2Vermont Department of
  Environmental Conservation 3Johnson State
  College 4University of Vermont 5Lamoille County
  Natural Resources Conservation District
  6LaPlatte Watershed Partnership 7Vermont
  Experimental Program to Stimulate Research
  8Saint Michael's College 9Norwich University,
  10Middlebury College
• Mid Winooski Watershed Partnership

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Saint Michaels College output

• Six students each of whom has
• Written and successfully competed for funds
• Completed a research project
• Presented that research as a poster or oral
  presentation
• Two students (so far) who
• Have signed up for research for credit
• Will present senior theses

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