ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan researchers are available to discuss the potential impacts of President Obama’s proposal, announced Monday, to reduce funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Experts include:

• Jennifer Read is assistant director and research coordinator of the U-M based Michigan Sea Grant program. She’s also executive director of the Great Lakes Observing System, which received a $1.47 million GLRI grant to add new research buoys and other equipment to monitor water quality at government-designated “areas of concern” at river mouths in all five Great Lakes.

Read is also co-principal investigator, with Michigan Sea Grant Director Jim Diana, of a GLRI-funded project ($1.04 million) to restore native fish habitat in the St. Clair River. New underwater reefs will be constructed to encourage reproduction of native fish such as lake whitefish, walleye and lake sturgeon. Contact: (734) 936-3622, [email protected].

• Allen Burton is director of CILER, the Cooperative Institute for Limnology & Ecosystems Research, a collaboration between U-M and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He’s also a professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Burton is principal investigator for several GLRI-funded research projects and can provide an overview of the types of projects CILER researchers are pursuing. Those projects include an effort to provide 60-hour advance forecasts of water quality conditions at Great Lakes beaches where bacterial pathogens may pose health threats to swimmers. Contact: (734) 763-3601, [email protected]. Note: Burton will be out of the country on Monday but should be available by cell phone.

• Jim Diana is a U-M professor of natural resources and director of Michigan Sea Grant, a U-M /Michigan State University collaboration based at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment. Diana is principal investigator of the Green Marina Education and Outreach project ($478,262), a GLRI-funded effort to reduce pollution from boating and marina activities in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Contact: (734) 763-5834, [email protected].

U-M Sustainability fosters a more sustainable world through collaborations across campus and beyond aimed at educating students, generating new knowledge, and minimizing our environmental footprint. Learn more at sustainability.umich.edu.