Multiple researchers will discuss their work in the Calumet region at an open house Saturday, February 28, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Central at Indiana University Northwest (IUN). The gathering is hosted by the Northern Lake County Environmental Partnership and IUN.
Dr. Graham Peaslee, professor emeritus of physics at Notre Dame University, will discuss his findings of soil pollution in the Calumet region.  He is a nuclear physicist who leads research into environmental contaminants using nuclear analytical techniques. Also speaking will be Dr. Christopher Iceman, associate professor of chemistry at Valparaiso University, who studies air pollution in the Calumet region. His work has implications that range from ecosystem health to toxin identification and remediation; moreover, computational methods using the advantages of high-performance computing compliment his work providing a key feedback between theory and experiment. Among other speakers will be Dr. Ellen Wells, associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at Purdue University, and Dr. Kenneth Brown at Hope College. Both will present an overview of the Northern Lake County Environmental Partnership at the open house.
Dr. Julie Peller, professor of chemistry, Valparaiso University, will host the February gathering with Dr. Ellen Szarletta of Indiana University Northwest.
If you cannot attend the open house, a video of that event will be shown Tuesday, March 3 Zoom meeting at 5 p.m. Central time (Q&A to follow). If you wish to participate, please reach out to michael@wolflakeinitiative.org. We will send you a link on March 2.
The forum has shed light on the region since 2013. It is jointly sponsored by the Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative (AWLI) and Calumet College of St. Joseph. AWLI is a not-for-profit organization and land trust seeking to protect and enhance the thousands of acres that comprise the Wolf Lake watershed. The watershed serves a population base of 3.4 million in Northwest Indiana and Southeast Chicago and suburbs.