{"id":149073,"date":"2025-09-18T15:09:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=149073"},"modified":"2025-09-24T16:32:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T21:32:00","slug":"freshwater-collaborative-awards-uwm-nearly-1-million-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/freshwater-collaborative-awards-uwm-nearly-1-million-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Freshwater Collaborative awards UWM nearly $1 million\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin has awarded the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee $970,120 in funding to expand hands-on research opportunities for high school and undergraduate students, address emerging contaminants like perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and strengthen career pathways in water-related fields.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The collaborative\u2019s awards are part of $4.2 million in grants the organization has provided to Universities of Wisconsin institutions statewide to fund 19 inter-campus projects for the fiscal years of 2026<\/span> and 20<\/span>27<\/span>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The programs expand student freshwater research at UW campuses, offer summer programs for high school students to educate them about careers in the water industry, and further university-led research that helps fulfill community and government agency needs for water quality monitoring.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2 UWM-led projects<\/h2>\n

One UWM-led project will address contamination by PFAS, or \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d found in high levels in drinking water throughout the state and linked to significant health issues. This project will address a growing concern about an emerging type of PFAS, bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides, which have been widely used in the production of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another UWM-led project is related to workforce development in aquaculture. It includes experiential learning opportunities for students, cross-campus collaborative courses, and recruitment of high school and undergraduate students into the pipeline for jobs. This project also builds upon the Freshwater Collaborative Water Policy Network as a community of practice around water policy issues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most exciting thing about this latest round of funding is seeing how programs are becoming more interconnected,\u201d said Marissa Jablonski, executive director for the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin. \u201cWe can really see how these connections are building a pipeline from college recruitment to jobs in freshwater in Wisconsin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Freshwater Collaborative<\/span><\/a> is a statewide initiative, backed by the Wisconsin Legislature, to support curriculum development, career development and field training experiences for students interested in studying water-related fields at the 13 universities in the UW System.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UWM projects are:<\/p>\n

\u201cProgrammatic Funding Building Capacity for Water Careers, Education, and Freshwater Policy Connections\u201d<\/p>\n