A profiler, deployed in August 1999, was designed by Ron Muzzi, to autonomously climb up and down a mooring cable in Lake Michigan. The profiler (above) carried a CTD sensor providing water quality measurements on conductivity, temperature and density throughout the water column.

Ron Muzzi has led the life of a marine engineer at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) since 1979.  Throughout his career, Ron has worked to extend the reach of technology to study the Great Lakes. In leading GLERL’s Marine Instrumentation Laboratory (MIL) team of engineers, he has worked on the development of instrumentation and equipment to monitor the physical, chemical, and biological changes of our freshwater lakes. Some of these monitoring tools have been invented by Ron and his MIL team and others adapted from oceanographic equipment to large freshwater lake use.

So what would lead a 19 year old electrical engineering student at the University of Michigan (UM) to pursue a life-long career as a marine engineer? Ron, a self-professed tinkerer, thinks it’s probably his keen sense of curiosity.  Ron recalls that from a young age, “I was constantly experimenting—taking things apart and then putting them back together in the process of fixing things.” He actually built his own computer (known as the COSMAC ELF) while still in high school.  It was programmed with a hex keyboard and display, but would also play simple video games programmed by Ron.

Ron launched his career at GLERL as a part time engineering aid when he was a college freshman. In the process of completing his college education while working at lab, he followed the advice of his supervisor by taking courses that built broad foundation in math, science, physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics. This foundation has served Ron well as an electronics engineer, a position that later transitioned into MIL team lead for GLERL.

In doing the job of a marine engineer, Ron describes himself as being a ‘jack of all trades’ as he manages the front lines in delivering real time data from the Great Lakes back to the lab for analysis and modeling. Speaking from many years of experience, Ron stresses that our monitoring systems must be designed and built to stand up to the rugged environment of the Great Lakes. These monitoring systems— made up of integrated electrical and mechanical components—must not only survive working in the water, but also reliably provide accurate data. He identifies one of the most challenging aspects of his job is “knowing what to do when things go wrong in the field and how to solve those problems, including when problem solving needs to be diagnosed remotely from the lab.”

Current meters instruments used from the 1970s to 1990s that measured current velocity and direction on a cassette tape that was transferred to a main frame computer.

In looking back to the mid-1980s, early on in Ron’s career, lake hydrology was one of the focuses of GLERL research. In a project to predict the fluctuating Great Lakes water levels, measurements were taken in real time of the flow rate (velocity) of the Detroit River. To accomplish this, Ron and his team deployed an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) (left). Ron recounts one of his experiences using the ADCP: “During a strong wind event, the ADCP accurately measured a temporary river flow reversal that occurred throughout the water column. Up until that time, this had never been measured before. The event was observed to occur after a strong south wind pushed the water in Lake St. Clair to the north, making the level of the south end lower and then shifted to a strong east wind that pushed water into the western end of Lake Erie making the level of that lake higher. So until it could re-balance itself, the water level at the source of the Detroit River was lower than the water level at the mouth of the Detroit River, causing the river to flow upstream.  For about an hour the Detroit River was actually flowing north!”

Ron recognizes the importance of listening carefully to the scientists to make sure he understands what they are trying to learn about the Great Lakes in their research pursuits. In doing so, Ron is better able to configure the tools needed to monitor changes in the lakes to meet GLERL’s research goals and objectives. Frequently, this involves designing a new instrument or adapting an existing one designed for the ocean for freshwater use.

Ron compares the challenges in his work as a marine engineer to solving puzzles, as he expresses, “I am really inspired by the creative process of designing and putting together innovative monitoring tools that are efficient, reliable, economical, and functional in rugged conditions. Being reliable in the harsh environment of the Great Lakes is especially critical. If our desktop computer crashes, we can easily reboot it, but that’s not an option when the computer is located inside a buoy a few miles from shore on a stormy day.” Ron is also inspired by working as a team in MIL as he knows all too well, “no one person can do this type of work on their own— it takes a team effort, always.”

One important development that Ron has helped advance is NOAA GLERL’s Real-Time Environmental Coastal Observation Network (ReCON) buoys, expanding GLERL’s capacity to monitor the Great Lakes. In working with the MIL team, Ron helped build and maintain the ReCON network—a system of wireless Internet observation buoys positioned at coastal locations around the Great Lakes covering approximately 800 square miles. The system of buoys, powered by solar energy, collects meteorological (Met) data and also provides sub-surface measurements of chemical, biological, and physical conditions. ReCON buoys obtain on the water data in real-time that is accessible to the public and ensures the safety of user groups going out on the water, such as surfers, anglers and boaters, duck hunters, sailors, as well as researchers.  See slide show below for ReCON related images.

Muzzi explains how the ReCON system is used to track meteorological conditions around the Great Lakes basin with real-time meteorological data, animations, and photographs available for each met station shown on the Great Lakes map above.  

Ron identifies one of the ongoing challenges in doing research on the Great Lakes is monitoring the five-lake system—massive in scope, covering  a surface area of 94,250 square miles with a volume of 5,439 cubic miles. While acknowledging this as a steep challenge, Ron discussed how newly developed technology, such as the Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUVs), has increased GLERL’s capacity to monitor larger areas of the lakes more efficiently. GLERL also does more with cameras images and videos taken from aircrafts to increase monitoring capacity. Ron is optimistic that as robotics and imagery improves, we can continue to expand the scope of our research monitoring work.

Ron’s advice for young people interested in marine engineering harkens back to how he spent his childhood. “Young people need to experiment on their own, play around with science and technology kits, and get a good foundation in the basic sciences and mathematics. You may even consider exploring music.”  Ron plays the piano and organ as well as directing his church choir and strongly believes that his musical pursuits have transferred over to strengthening his engineering skills. “Designing requires a creative spirit which should be explored at a young age.” 

Muzzi teaches a lesson to a group of elementary students visiting GLERL on electrical circuitry which included a group challenge exercise for our next generation of scientists/marine engineers.

In looking to the future of Great Lakes research, Ron believes that one of the most significant challenges we face is getting the research done with limited resources as well as keeping the focus to a manageable number of projects. He hopes that the pioneering spirit of GLERL’s scientists and engineers continues in the spirit of developing innovative instrumentation to monitor the Great Lakes. And as a society, we all must take responsibility in being good stewards of the lakes for generations to come.

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A project update from GLERL Deputy Director, Jesse Feyen

GLERL has a long track record for modeling and predicting circulation and levels for our Great Lakes waters. Now we are working to apply this expertise in Lake Champlain, a large lake system that is shared with Canada. The lake lies along the New York/Vermont border and flows north into Quebec via the Richelieu River. In 2011, this lake-river system experienced significant precipitation and wind events that raised the levels of Lake Champlain to record levels and caused extensive flooding and damage around the lake and along the Richelieu River.

As a cross-border boundary water, management of the Lake Champlain/Richelieu River system is subject to the International Boundary Waters Treaty. In responding to a reference from the governments of the United States and Canada, the binational International Joint Commission (IJC) is conducting a study exploring the causes, impacts, risks, and solutions to flooding in the basin like during 2011.

The IJC has tapped GLERL to play a lead role in the study given our expertise in modeling the hydrology and hydrodynamics of the Great Lakes and experience working with Canadian partners. As a key expert in the IJC’s Upper Great Lakes Study and the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Study, GLERL Director Deborah Lee was invited to serve as a U.S. member of the project’s Study Board, which provides the overall guidance and direction for the project. Deborah nominated Deputy Director Jesse Feyen to head up the U.S. portion of the study’s Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Mapping Technical Working Group, or HHM TWG.

A GLERL-led team of research partners is building solutions to these flooding issues in Lake Champlain and Richelieu River System. In addition to Lee and Feyen, team members include Integrated Physical and Ecological Modeling and Forecasting (IPEMF) Philip Chu, Drew Gronewold, and Eric Anderson; Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) Dima Beletsky, Haoguo Hu, and Andy Xiao, with support from Lacey Mason; and the Northeast River Forecast Center’s Bill Saunders.

The two priorities of the study are to determine what flood mitigation measures can be implemented in the basin, and to create new flood forecast tools for the system. Current flood models operated by the National Weather Service (NWS) cannot account for the effects of winds and waves on Lake Champlain water levels, which can increase water level by several feet, significantly impacting flooding.

The modeling approach used in this study mirrors GLERL’s work in the Great Lakes. In Lake Champlain, a 3D FVCOM is being built to model water levels, temperature, and circulation; a WAVEWATCH III wave model will be coupled to FVCOM model to predict wave conditions; a WRF-Hydro (Weather Research and Forecasting) distributed hydrologic model will predict streamflow and runoff into the basin. This approach relies on models that are in use at NOAA and can readily be transferred to operations by the NWS and National Ocean Service, both of which have been participating in planning throughout the project.

While flooding issues in the Lake Champlain and Richelieu River system pose steep challenges on both sides of the border, GLERL brings the leadership, technical expertise as well as a “One NOAA” approach that are all essential for leveraging progress.

By Deborah H. Lee, Director, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory 

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Hearts of GOLD (Geosciences Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity) in Colorado Springs, Colorado on July 24-25. Hearts of GOLD is a National Science Foundation sponsored project led by a group of six investigators including NOAA’s LaToya Myles of the Office of Oceanic Research, Air Resources Laboratory. The goal of the project is to help leaders in geosciences become champions for diversity by teaching new tools, skills, and attitudes that include learning how to work with colleagues “different” from ourselves.

The driving question posed at the training was, “Why should we value diversity?”  In answering this question and others, we learned that social science research reveals that a diverse workforce can advance core elements for organizational success, such as enhanced innovation through creativity, increased diligence and a committed work ethic, more balanced decision making, robust problem-solving, as well as boosting a company’s bottom line. In looking beyond our organizational boundaries, diversity essentially produces a healthier society by including all of its members.

Our instructors, Drs. Dena R. Samuels and Stephany Rose of University of Colorado – Colorado Springs, led us through two days of often emotional and soul-searching discussion as we examined inclusivity, diversity, and social justice. We learned about implicit bias—a term that describes when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. This bias often prevents us from achieving diversity by choosing to work with people most like ourselves or associated with positive stereotypes. To get a better sense of what is meant by this, you can assess your implicit biases at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.

We also learned that even if we can overcome implicit bias to achieve a diverse organization, it may not be enough to drive innovation without a culture of genuine inclusivity.  Inclusivity is an intention or policy of including people who are considered “different,” resulting in them being excluded or marginalized, such as those who are handicapped or learning-disabled, or racial or sexual minorities.  We were encouraged to seek out new experiences that challenge our bias, slow down and be present in the moment to catch the bias, and then act differently and practice “priming”—observing positive images of people from stereotyped groups or simply calling to mind counter-stereotypical information. We were reminded that “If you aren’t actively including, you are probably accidentally excluding.”

One topic that struck a personal chord with me was the subject of “microaggression”—an act I had experienced many times over in my career, even recently, as a woman in a non-traditional field.  Microaggressions are subtle words, cues, and/or behaviors that insult, invalidate, or exclude individuals. They are often based on a disadvantaged social identity and often cue stereotypes, labeling one as an outsider.  The recipient often feels disempowered to address the giver of these microaggressions, due to a balance of power, causing the recipient to be impacted cumulatively via a “death by a thousand cuts.”  The intent of the giver is to perpetuate systems of power—to keep those in power, in power, and those oppressed, in oppression.

Another challenging topic was the systemic impacts of privilege and its counterweight, oppression.  Privilege is being treated in ways that make you feel automatically included and valued and is generally an unearned advantage, versus a personal achievement, based on how your identity aligns with what is considered normal and accepted.  It significantly affects performance in academics, interviews, life chances and longevity. To illustrate the impact of privilege, we played a game where each player was allotted 12 pennies, which were then pooled in the center of the table.  When asked a series of questions regarding our experiences of privilege, or lack thereof, and depending on the answers, we were instructed to either to take a penny (benefited from privilege) or put a penny back in the pool (denied privilege).  By the end of the game, some players had “earned” 12 or more pennies from the pool, while others had no pennies or even “owed” pennies. The lessons learned from playing this game were profound, to say the least.

Through my experience at Hearts of GOLD, I became keenly aware that diversity and inclusion are not only important for creativity and innovation, but they are also fundamental for social justice to come to fruition.  The principle of social justice requires that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities.  This popular graphic (https://ehhsdean.com/tag/equity/#jp-carousel-959) illustrates the concepts of equality and equity, but makes the case that until barriers to entry are removed, social justice cannot be achieved.

As leaders in the geosciences, we left the class with a stronger awareness and understanding of the challenges we face both within ourselves and externally within our organizations, the skills and tools we could bring to bear, and how to remove the barriers to social justice to create the next generation of geoscientists.