Meet the Mentors

Patrick Forsythe, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

Location: UW-Green Bay, Green Bay Campus
Details: You’ll help develop a deeper understanding of how fish populations respond to habitat restoration, watershed condition, and emerging environmental stressors in the Great Lakes region. As a Freshwater Scholar, you will:

• Join a team of UW-Green Bay undergraduate and graduate students working in the Aquatic Ecology and Fisheries Laboratory.
• Participate in long-term fisheriesmonitoringwithin the Lower Green Bay & Fox River Area of Concern.
• Sample fish communities in tributaries and coastal wetlands to evaluate habitat restoration outcomes.
• Assistwith watershed-scale biological monitoring in partnership with NEW Water (Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District).
• Explore patterns of microplastic ingestion in Lake Michigan and Green Bayfishes.
• Deploy backpack electrofishing equipment and other standardized fisheries sampling techniques.
• Conduct stream and coastal habitat assessments andassistwith macroinvertebrate biomonitoring.
• Gain experience in quantitative data analysis and interpretation of population trends.
• Contribute todata collection, basic statistical analysis, and presentation of findings at the end of the experience.

John Luczaj, Ph.D.

Professor of Geoscience

Location: UW-Green Bay, Green Bay Campus
Details: The Waters of the Green Bay Campus project will focus on characterizing the chemistry and stable isotopic composition of surface water and groundwater across the UW–Green Bay campus. Approximately 25 sampling locations will be included, representing a range of hydrologic environments such as ponds, creeks, springs, groundwater wells, and stormwater features.

Water samples collected from these sites will be analyzed and compared both internally and against data from a previous campus water study. These comparisons will support interpretations related to water origin, interactions with natural or anthropogenic pollutants, and the presence of naturally occurring dissolved solids.

Students participating in this project may also have opportunities to shadow a graduate student or the project lead during sampling of regional water wells as part of a broader aquifer‑chemistry study. Additional components may include reviewing water‑well construction reports and conducting data analysis in Excel.

Beth Kondro, MS

Research Technician in Environmental Engineering

Location: UW-Green Bay, Green Bay Campus
Details: Join our team to become part of the solution to remove excess dissolved phosphorus from agricultural runoff that can cause harmful algal blooms in receiving bodies of water using sedimentation basins and reactive filter media. Your role as a Freshwater Scholar will be:

• Analyze performance of phosphorus removal systems across Northeast Wisconsin
• Assist in remote water quality monitoring using deployed sensors
• Measure nutrients in water from sedimentation basins and reactive filter media
• Collect, process, and analyze water samples
• Assist in fabricating novel reactive filter media

Erin Giese

Oneida Bird Monitoring Program

Location: UW-Green Bay, Green Bay Campus
Details: UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, NEW Bird Alliance and Audubon Great Lakes collaborate with the Oneida Nation on the Oneida Bird Monitoring Program (OBMP). This volunteer program monitors birds at restoration sites on the Oneida Nation Reservation. With the help of over 100 dedicated volunteers, we conduct surveys of breeding grassland, marsh and forest birds, as well as migratory shorebirds and waterfowl, at five restoration sites, documenting over 200 bird species. We would love to engage a high school student who is an enrolled Oneida citizen (or from another Tribe) in our project. As a Freshwater Scholar, you will: 

• Assisting with bird, anuran or plant monitoring in wetlands, prairies and forests.
• Assist with project outreach (e.g., community day, bird walks).
• Help with camp activities for Oneida children. 
• Learn about restoration of wetland and prairie habitats, wildlife surveys, environmental education and Oneida culture, history and language. 

Titus Seilheimer, Ph.D.

Fish Specialist with Wisconsin Sea Grant, partnering organization in the Manitowoc area

Location: UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus
Details: If you love fish (or fishing) this is the project for you! Join Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer for a summer of field experiences in streams and wetlands. Based out of Manitowoc, the project team, including you, the Freshwater Scholar, will be mainly in and on the water, with some lab and remote work to include:

• Conducting stream monitoring in Two Rivers and Port Washington in order to assess conditions before restoration projects.
• Collecting fish and monitoring wild rice on western Green Bay coastal wetlands.

Erin Berns-Herrboldt, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Water Science

Location: UW-Green Bay, Green Bay Campus
Details:This project focuses on evaluating phosphorus storage and release in streambank sediments. It includes lab microcosm experiments and water and sediment sampling at field sites on the Wisconsin River. There will be independent tasks for the high school student researcher, but this student will also support a graduate student’s thesis research. The independent research project will be focused on how different pH conditions influence phosphorus associations with streambank sediments.

Paul List

Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust

Location: Partnering site based in the Appleton area
Details: Join the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust (NEWLT) with nearly three decades of working to preserve the health of the Green Bay watershed by protecting properties throughout the region. Recently, NEWLT grew their conservation work by developing and expanding ways to connect with the community in environmental education and action to promote ecosystem health. As a Freshwater Scholar with NEWLT, you will:

• Help to plan, implement and evaluate conservation engagement programming throughout the summer
• Work with community groups as well as public events
• Be involved in participatory science
• Engage the community in collecting biodiversity data on NEWLT public preserves to inform management efforts and contribute to conservation research. 
• Take the lead in planning and hosting a public event in August as your capstone project!

Matt Rentmeester, Lexi Angemi, and Kevin Hendrickson

Baird Creek Preservation Foundation

Location: Partnering site based in the Green Bay area
Details: The Baird Creek Preservation Foundation looks forward to mentoring a student whose time will be shared between environmental education and hands‑on land management. This position offers a unique opportunity to build skills in outdoor education, ecological restoration, and community engagement.

• Education Tasks can include:
  • Work together to prepare, lead, and coordinate daily camp activities, which may include arts and crafts, indoor and outdoor games, enrichment activities, service-learning opportunities, etc.
  • Follow lesson plans and assist with activity prep and cleanup
  • Guide appropriate camper behavior and hands-on outdoor education while ensuring the safety of all participants
  • Relationship-building skills with school-aged children (K-6th grade) and their families
  • Working collaboratively with and following directives from the Education Director
• Land Management Tasks can include:
  • Identifying, cataloging, and removal of invasive plants
  • Planting native plant species
  • Tree maintenance
  • The student may be asked to work with ArcGIS/Field Maps on the company iPad to gather data