Awards And Certifications From April 23

Grand Valley Researcher Wins Great Lakes Award: Janet Vail, associate research scientist at Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon, will be given the 2013 Jack Vallentyne Award by the International Association for Great Lakes Research. Vail, who has worked for AWRI since 1990, is being recognized for her efforts to inform and ducate the public and policymakers on Great Lakes issues, along with raising awareness and support for Great Lakes protection and restoration. As a researcher at AWRI, Vail handles several tasks, including the "Making Lake Michigan Great Tours" that she has led on AWRI research vessels since 1998. Vail also organizes ongoing education programs, and organized three State of Lake Michigan conferences. She is the co-chair of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lake Michigan Forum, which serves as a link between the governmental agencies involved in Lake Michigan's health and the stakeholders who are affected by the well-being of the lake. Vail will receive the 2013 Jack Vallentyne award at the IAGLR annual conference at Purdue University in June. She will also present a paper, "Coordinated On-board Education and Outreach Project," which will focus on vessel-based outreach that AWRI has been doing in association with the Inland Seas Education Association, BaySail, and Michigan Sea Grant. The project has been funded by the EPA through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. For more information on AWRI or Vail's work, visit http://gvsu.edu/wri.