GLIN==> News Release - Graduate Students Supported by Sea Grant

["Marie E. Zhuikov" <mzhuikov@d.umn.edu>]

Note - image of Allison Gamble is attached.

                              MN SEA GRANT
                              NEWS RELEASE

2/13/06
Contact: Marie Zhuikov, mzhuikov@umn.edu or (218) 726-7677

            SEA GRANT BOOSTS FUTURE OF AQUATIC SCIENCE

By awarding over $507,000 for graduate student research project 
support, the University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program is extending the 
country's commitment to aquatic science.

"Engaging top-notch graduates in water-related research, policy, and 
education is critical to solving the world's looming water issues," 
said Jeff Gunderson, Minnesota Sea Grant acting director.

Minnesota Sea Grant is supporting the equivalent of nine graduate 
students for two years, exposing them to the latest techniques used to 
address questions about Lake Superior and Minnesota's inland lakes 
under the supervision of University of Minnesota faculty. The graduate 
funding augments $566,650 that Sea Grant awarded University faculty for 
research projects last March.

This year's flock of Sea Grant graduates is pursuing research on topics 
such as the sources of beach bacteria, endocrine disruption, carbon 
cycling, and interactions between Lake Superior's physical and 
biological processes.

Allison Gamble, a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota 
Duluth (UMD), spent most of last summer on the deck of a research 
vessel collecting data from Lake Superior.

"I've been gaining invaluable experience in the field and in the lab by 
working with university faculty, and also through coursework offered at 
UMD," said Gamble, a doctoral candidate in Water Resources Science.

Gamble's advisor is Thomas Hrabik, an assistant professor with UMD's 
Department of Biology. Hrabik says graduate assistants like Gamble are 
critical to advances in science.

"Allison's help has been essential to the progress we've made," said 
Hrabik. "The quality and quantity of the data we were able to obtain on 
how energy moves through the food web of the lake has put us in a 
position to compete successfully for additional grant money. There is 
no way I could have collected, processed, and analyzed the amount of 
data we did without graduate assistance."

In addition to research, Sea Grant-supported graduates are expected to 
make their results relevant and accessible to the public. Many will be 
presenting papers at conferences or producing publications in the 
coming months.

Minnesota Sea Grant is part of a network of 30 Sea Grant College 
Programs spanning coastal states throughout the United States and 
Puerto Rico. To learn more about Sea Grant, access www.seagrant.umn.edu 
or call (218) 726-8106.

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