About the Authors
Robin Scribailo holds a M.S. in Botany from
University of Guelph and a Ph.D
from University
of Toronto also
in
Botany. He has done postdoctoral work at both Guelph
and Harvard.
He has been employed as Associate Professor of Biology at Purdue
University
Northwest since 1991 while conducting aquatic plant inventories and
ecosystem
level assessment of lakes in Northwest Indiana.
His research has included creation, restoration, and enhancement of
wetlands,
developmental mechanisms of heavy metal tolerance in aquatic macrophytes. Robin
has numerous publications to his credit in both Canada
and the U.S.
Spencer Cortwright is associate professor of
biology at Indiana University Northwest.
He teaches ecology, evolution, zoology, and conservation. He has performed 18 years of research on
amphibians. More recently, he has worked
to restore native plants to Northwest Indiana, most notably
construction of a
tall grass prairie in Gary.
Nathan Brindza earned a B.S. in Fisheries
and Wildlife Management from Utah State University. While an
undergraduate, he completed a senior research project on benthic
invertebrates
of Lake Powell, UT and served as a technician in the
Utah
State University Limnology Laboratory.
After graduation, he worked as a research technician on a study
of food
web ecology at the UC Davis Castle Lake Limnology Laboratory before
beginning
graduate school. He spent two years in
the mountains of Idaho conducting
research to
complete a M.S. in aquatic ecology and recently defended his thesis at Utah State University. Nathan now works as a fisheries biologist for
the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife.
Kathy Luther has been with the Indiana
Department of Environmental Management for five years where she has
served as
the Lake Michigan LaMP Coordinator for the
Indiana
Department of Environmental Management for approximately three years. For the past two years, Co-Chairing the
Interagency Task Force on E. coli has been one of her primary
responsibilities. Kathy has Masters degrees in Environmental Science and Public
Affairs from Indiana
University. She also holds a bachelors degree in Biology
from Hope College
in Holland, Michigan.
Laurie Eberhardt has a BA in biology from Earlham
College, MS in
Zoology and PhD in Zoology from University of Florida
(finished in
1994). She has been teaching at VU in biology since fall 1994.
She
studies the behavior and ecology of birds, especially woodpeckers,
and has
been taking VU students on field trips to the lakes area for the past 7
years
to study the ecology and bird life of the area. Laurie knows the
area
well and has a strong interest in preserving the watershed of these
lakes.
Kevin Breitzke, Porter County
Surveyor
Kevin Breitzke has been a life-long resident
of Valparaiso. A graduate of the VU School of Engineering,
Kevin is a licensed professional engineer and surveyor and has worked
in the
field for over 25 years. He is one of the founding directors of the
Northwest
Territory Resource Conservation District and is Co-Chair of the
Environmental
Management Policy Committee of the Northwest Regional Planning
Commission, of
which he is a commissioner. Kevin is
also an officer of the Kankakee River Basin Commission.
He has served as Porter County Surveyor since
1997. During weekends, Kevin coaches
soccer and teaches Sunday school.
Walt
Breitinger,
Chairman, Valparaiso
Chain of Lakes Watershed Group
Work
in Progress
Mitchell S. Alix is a research assistant and Ph.D. candidate
at Purdue
University,
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.
Mitch graduated (B.Sc.) in May of 1997 with Distinction and
Honors in
Research. Mitch has published
numerous
articles, often in collaboration with Dr. Robin Scribailo, on such
topics as
aquatic plant diversity, distribution, and ecology.
He is involved with the mapping and
assessment of Indiana’s state-listed
aquatic
plants, the monitoring and control of Eurasian water milfoil, and the
construction and restoration of several wetlands in Indiana.
Mitch has extensive teaching experience, has served as executive
officer
of the Sciencing Society, and has been
inducted into
Alpha Sigma Lambda and Beta Beta Beta. He resides
with
his family in Valparaiso, Indiana.