MSU receives National Science Foundation, Collaborative Research at Undergraduate Institutions Grant for Aquatic Environmental Science

The Biogeochemistry of Reservoir Floodplains

C-RUI Program

In the fall of 1999 the National Science Foundation funded a proposal by nine MSU College of Science faculty to provide research opportunities for undergraduates.  The grant proposal, Biogeochemical and Ecological Processes Within a Reservoir Littoral Zone, is concerned with geological, chemical, and biological processes that occur in the littoral zone of the Kentucky Lake reservoir.  The littoral zone is that area of the lake that is flooded in the summer and dry in the winter when the reservoir level is dropped.  The littoral zone of the reservoir is inverted when compared to natural lakes which are flooded in the winter and dry in the summer. 

Four students were chosen in January 2000 to work on the project.  These students have written proposals and have begun their research.  Four additional students began in May and will present their proposals in September.  Students are paid a stipend of $6,000. per year and are provided the supplies and equipment to conduct research under the guidance of C-RUI faculty.  Travel funds are provided to support presentations at national meetings.