The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center recently awarded seed grant funding to six University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign research projects complementary to NGRREC’s mission of large river research and education. The selected proposals examine aspects of large river ecology, engineering and human dimensions. This modest grant program is intended to promote research on large rivers and their watersheds, serve as leverage for future project funding and as an incentive to future collaboration with NGRREC℠ and its scientists. Here is a list of project titles and primary investigators:

Praveen Kumar – Civil and Environmental Engineering  / Geology / Geography
    Surficial transport and storage in the upper Sangamon river basin: characterizing sediment dynamics across gradients of change
 
Bethany Cutts  –  Natural Resources Environmental Sciences  / Civil and Environmental Engineering 
    Integrating social data into models of headwater hydrological processes and the NGRREC℠ research agenda
 
Yanqing Lian  –  Pairie Research Institute – Illinois State Water Survey 
    Analysis of flood protection level of levee and drainage district for strategic planning to reduce flood damage along the middle and lower Illinois River
 
Sally McConkey – Prairie Research Institute - Illinois State Water Survey 
    Illinois River Levees: Sizing up Their Impact on Flooding and Risk
 
Momcilo Markus – Prairie Research Institute - Illinois State Water Survey 
    An evaluation of baseline nutrient loadings, their trends, and the effects of land‐use and climate variations in the Illinois River watershed
 
Steven Taylor  –  Prairie Research Institute - Illinois Natural History Survey
    Karst groundwater contaminants in western Illinois: comparison of current conditions with historical data