Bohn Selected as a Recipient for the Iowa Water Center’s Research Grant Competition

Ames, Iowa – The Iowa Water Center (IWC) annually administers a statewide grant competition known as the IWC Graduate Student Research Competition.

The purpose of this funding is to help graduate students to complete additional research objectives beyond the scope of their current work, with an emphasis on submitting their research to peer-reviewed publications.

Meyer Bohn is one the recipients, along with three other graduate students across Iowa. Each recipient will receive funding for various different research studies.

Bohn’s research focuses on mitigating soil and water degradation.

There are several programs for predictive agroecosystem modeling that are used to target solutions for soil and water quality issues in Iowa, but these models can be sensitive to soil input data. Soil maps that are available now use outdated information and lack the spatial resolution necessary for precision agroecosystem modeling. That is where Bohn comes in.

Bohn, along with his research advisor, Dr. Bradly Miller, have presented the idea of making soil maps through Digital Soil Mapping (DSM). The duo currently has a DSM project running in Story and Boone Counties, and are looking to widen their research to a “quad-county” study, including the counties: Osceola, Clay, Emmet and Dickinson.

There are two main purposes of this study. First, to create an updated soil map that can accurately target soil properties and spatial resolution. Second, to test the spatial models’ transferability used to construct the digital soil maps for their soil variation prediction capability in the greater Des Moines Lobe area.

Get to know Meyer Bohn, a PhD student at Iowa State University.

Bohn is originally from North Dakota and chose to attend Iowa State University for not only the unparalleled agriculture work and research performed there, but also because of his advisor, Dr. Bradley Miller. Dr. Miller is an assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University and is considered by many as one of the leading digital soil mapping researchers in the field.

Bohn also explained the benefit of living in Iowa as a soil scientist with an emphasis in digital soil mapping.

“Iowa is a particularly important place for improving soil map accuracy and precision. Our understanding of how soil properties vary in space has crucial implications for agricultural production and water quality. Iowa’s agricultural wealth and prosperity stems directly from the state’s rich abundance of inherently fertile prairie soils. This great wealth coincides with a critical responsibility, finding the balance between intensive agricultural production while sustaining soil and water quality.”

With the knowledge Bohn holds on the current state of soil maps, he knew that his research plans could make a significant improvement to the foundation of water and soil research throughout Iowa. This led him to apply for the IWC Graduate Student Research Competition.

Bohn shared that his favorite part of the research process is field work.

“I get to travel across the state sampling soils with a hydraulic probe mounted on the back of a pick-up truck,” said Bohn. “I get to see soils in ways that a textbook or journal article could never articulate, and I’ve met some incredible people along the way. The farmers of Iowa are some of the most genuine and charitable people I’ve ever met.”

Bohn also mentioned that he likes to focus on the cartography part of his research process. Cartography is the work of drawing out maps. Bohn shared that mastering the art of cartography was necessary to accurately communicate his research results. Although reaching the final product he is satisfied with can be challenging, it is very rewarding.

When Bohn isn’t in the field researching soils or perfecting maps, he enjoys being in the outdoors, such as camping, fishing, hunting and hiking. He also plays the guitar, and shared that if he ended up not being a soil scientist, he would have probably become a country music singer. On behalf of Iowa’s soil and water quality, we are so glad he chose the career that he did.

Sermet Selected as a Recipient for the Iowa Water Center’s Research Grant Competition

Ames, Iowa – The Iowa Water Center (IWC) annually administers a statewide grant competition known as the IWC Graduate Student Research Competition.

The purpose of this funding is to help graduate students to complete additional research objectives beyond the scope of their current work, with an emphasis on submitting their research to peer-reviewed publications.

Yusuf Sermet is one of the recipients, along with three other graduate students in Iowa. Each recipient will receive funding for various different research studies.

Sermet’s research predominately focuses on next-generation environmental knowledge generation and communication, as well as affordable water monitoring devices and applications.

Accuracy and reliability are two necessary components when it comes to the monitoring of our water resources. Current monitoring practices are accurate, however the cost to apply these systems on a large scale are restrictively expensive. This inspired Sermet to create a cost-friendly solution. Sermet’s research project created a water level measurement methodology that only relies on prevalent sensors, commonly found on smartphones. This allows for the camera-based embedded system to measure water levels, detect objects on the water surface (e.g. debris, boats, trees) and supply annotated data for hydrological processes, such as surface water modeling and streamflow estimation.

Get to know Yusuf Sermet, a PhD student at the University of Iowa.

Sermet first learned about the IWC when he participated in the annual Iowa Water Conference in 2016. He, along with his research group, took part in the student poster presentation and won second place that year. Sermet shared that, through this opportunity, he was able to learn from Iowa’s most prevalent researchers, professionals, stakeholders and peers in the field.

“Since then, I followed IWC’s activities and opportunities closely,” said Sermet. “With my advisor, who is the director of the Hydroinformatics Lab at the University of Iowa, Professor Ibrahim Demir, we felt that our research proposal on affordable stage sensors fit perfectly to IWC’s mission and vision, and will hopefully be useful to Iowans to prepare for future floods.”

Sermet grew up in Izmir, Turkey, where he received his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering. After his junior year in his undergraduate studies, Sermet joined Professor Demir in the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa for a summer internship. He is currently working toward his PhD in electrical and computer engineering through the University of Iowa, where he is able to continue working as a researcher in this center. During his PhD, Sermet has been given the opportunity to work on creating artificial intelligence solutions for environmental and climate issues. When asked what his favorite part of the research process is, Sermet answered,

“What I like about the research process is the excitement of taking on new challenges, audaciously brainstorming ideas and innovating novel solutions.”

According to the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), the United States currently has 2.7 million streams and associated watersheds with poorly monitored network of only 8,300 sensors. Sermet stated that the federal and state governments in the United States use stage sensors can range in cost from $3,000-$30,000, with an additional expense of anywhere between $1,000-$10,000 in annual maintenance costs.

“These expensive sensor prices cause challenges for effective data coverage, which is crucial for natural disaster mitigation, water resource management and climate change,” Sermet said. “This data scarcity led us to come up with a novel approach that will allow the development of next-generation stream sensors within the cost range of $100-$400.”

When Sermet takes a break from his lab research work, he enjoys playing basketball, going to different concerts and movies and discovering new places. Sermet mentioned that most of these hobbies were put on pause due to COVID-19, so he has recently picked up the art of cooking. He likes to create Mediterranean dishes in particular.

The well-being of people and our communities inspired Sermet to complete his research proposal on affordable monitoring practices. Sermet shared that, over the last 40 years, water related natural hazards, such as floods and droughts, have killed more than 3,500 people in the United States and have caused over $350 billion in damage. Water resources support a plethora of daily-life necessities, including providing safe water for consumption, recreation, irrigation and power generation. Sermet explained that, because of the dire need for safe water, it is vital to have a reliable, water resource monitoring system in order to diminish the loss of life and property that water related disasters can create. It is his hope that with his completed research, this goal can become a reality.

Grace Wilkinson’s Twitter Takeover

Grace Wilkinson, a limnologist, ecosystem ecologist and assistant professor at Iowa State University, took charge of our Twitter account on March 27th for our #TwitterTakeover series. She shared her experiences on her group research projects and statewide water quality monitoring programs.

Wilkinson starts her #TwitterTakeover by making sure everyone knows what limnology is (the study of inland waters, FYI). She explains further that limnology is the basis of understanding the physical, chemical and biological components of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, etc. Wilkinson also has a research emphasis on links between lakes and the landscape.

Wilkinson and her lab group monitor over 130 lakes and reservoirs in Iowa. They measure the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, algae, zooplankton, stratification and even more. This summer marks the 21st anniversary of the Iowa Ambient Lake Monitoring program.  This program consists of Iowa State University students preparing to be limnologists that collect data from each 130+ lakes through the months May-September. The data that is found is used for listing and reporting lakes as a part of the federal Clean Water Act, as well as for additional research. All of this data is open to the public, and you can access it here.

Wilkinson’s research team also partners with the United States Army Corps to monitor the Des Moines River and its key reservoirs. This has been an ongoing program for over 45 years, with continuous data collection all year. She explains that long-term data is crucial to understand ecosystems and how they change over time. Her team published a paper revolving around the Des Moines River data to shed light on the importance of wavy patterns in aquatic ecosystems – you can read the paper here.

Since her research group is commonly referenced, Wilkinson took the time to highlight the group members and what they are studying.

First, we have Ellen Albright, a PhD student studying the mechanisms that control internal P loading in shallow lakes that are often found in Iowa. This field of interest helps guide in-lake management interventions, including alum application, dredging, fishery renovations and more.

Next, there is Tyler Butts, a PhD student studying the understanding of how a food web structure mediates the response of algae to changes in the environment that could potentially alter biomass. This can be caused by a big storm or an event similar. Butts is also one of the 2020 Iowa Water Center Grant Recipients for his research on the relationship between food web structure and ecosystem resilience, as well as how food web structure affects greenhouse gas flux.

Here is a little insight into the projects Butts has done in the past:

Finally, Quin Shingai, a master’s student studying cryptic fluxes of microcystin, is the last lab research group member. Microcystin is a cyanotoxin that can lead to human exposure. For those that don’t know, a cyanotoxin is a type of toxin produced by bacteria that can be found almost anywhere, but specifically in lakes and oceans. Shingai is interested in the absorption of microcystin to sediment particles that could be resuspended in shallow waters, such as beaches.

You can follow Grace’s personal Twitter account, @goodgracious23, Ellen’s personal Twitter account, @limnoellen, Tyler’s personal Twitter account, @Eco_Butts, Quin’s personal Twitter account, @Shingai_Science, and of course, the Iowa Water Center account, @IowaWaterCenter, to stay updated with recent news and events happening in the Water World.