Wisconsin is an amazing place to study and work in water. That’s a core message Ali Mikulyuk, program coordinator for the Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program, hopes to share with the 30 undergraduates participating in this year’s program.
The program provides undergraduates from around the country with hands-on mentored research experiences in freshwater science at one of the Universities of Wisconsin. This year’s cohort hails from 11 universities in Wisconsin and nine other states.
Orientation Week kicked off May 27, 2025, with activities designed to create a shared sense of identity as researchers, to introduce students to core concepts of water research and build strong peer-to-peer connections the students can lean on as they tackle challenges throughout the summer.
“The week provides a fun introduction and soft launch into research. For some, this is their first research experience; for others, they may have done research before, but not in water,” Mikulyuk says. “We give them some hands-on learning opportunities to prepare them for a strong start with their projects. I think it takes away some of the anxiety of the first day with their research mentor.”
Students took a First Nations Cultural Landscape Tour on the UW-Madison Campus. They participated in a high ropes course through the UW-Madison Adventure Learning Program to focus on teamwork, communication and problem solving. They learned about Wisconsin’s watersheds with staff from the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. They toured Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center and learned how to take groundwater samples and identify phosphorus in groundwater — activities led by student and faculty researchers from UW-Madison and UW-Green Bay who are working on research funded by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin.
Students then traveled to UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences where they kayaked the Inner Harbor of Lake Michigan with Milwaukee Riverkeeper staff, collected water samples from the R/V Neeskay to contribute to a long-term research project, and participated in fish dissection and invertebrate and algae identification activities in the school’s labs.
An overarching goal was to showcase Wisconsin as THE place to work in water.
“Orientation week gives them a hint of what they can have if they come to Wisconsin for graduate school or to work,” Mikulyuk says. “It’s fun. It’s beautiful. And there’s a network of supportive professionals working in water.”
Over the next nine weeks, students will work on individual research projects with mentors at UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW Oshkosh, UW-Parkside, UW-Stevens Point, USGS, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and Wisconsin Sea Grant.
Students will present their research at the Freshwater@UW Summer Research Symposium on July 30 at UW-Madison.
Funding for the Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program is provided by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Sea Grant, the UW Water Resources Institute, and Water@UW-Madison.
Written by Heidi Jeter, Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin.