HOLLAND — A new research institute on the campus of Hope College will bring multiple academic disciplines together to study water quality locally and around the world.
The new Global Water Research Institute at Hope College officially launched Tuesday, March 22, in accordance with United Nations World Water Day.
Its creation is being led by professors Aaron Best and Brent Krueger with a goal of building upon years of water research at Hope and providing information to be used locally, regionally and internationally.
“Our vision is to positively impact communities through improved understanding of water and equip them to make data-driven decisions about use of their water,” Best, a Hope professor and Biology Department chair, stated.
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Best noted water issues run from worldwide limited access to clean water to the presence of E. coli and agricultural nutrients such as phosphorus in the Macatawa Watershed.
“So the problem is acute and needs to be addressed, and we believe that Hope can move into this area and have an impact,” he said.
The GWRI is supported with a share of a $2.5 million gift from Sawyer Products and the Sawyer Foundation. Sawyer, a company that makes water filtration systems and other outdoor products, announced the gift last fall. It was also used to establish the global health program at Hope.
“We’re grateful for Sawyer’s continued partnership,” Best stated. “They’re enhancing our ability not only to provide meaningful learning opportunities for our students, including hands-on through research, but to make a lasting difference to the quality of life for people from as nearby as our hometown of Holland to the other side of the world.”
Hope’s global health program involves 12 departments across campus. The GWRI is seen as a complement to the program, as water quality is among the areas of study in the global health program. Students in the program will work with the GWRI faculty researchers.
However, the GWRI will not be tied to a certain academic program. Research will be the primary purpose of the institute and GWRI will operate independent of any specific department.
There will be three initial areas of emphasis at the GWRI — access to safe water, environmental health and sustainability and expanding the wastewater testing that Hope began conducting in August 2020 to detect the presence of COVID-19 on campus.
“You can also monitor other organisms — so, influenza or Epstein-Barr or HIV, any number of types of viruses that could impact public health,” Best stated.
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The institute will allow faculty from a variety of departments to engage in research. Faculty members in the institute come from departments including biology, chemistry, geological and environmental science, mathematics, political science and religion.
“It’s important to us that this be campus wide,” Krueger, professor of chemistry and Schaap Research Fellow, stated. “The GWRI will be a home for faculty with similar research interests so that we can get together, talk about those interests, and look for areas where we might collaborate that we maybe wouldn’t have noticed before that will make each of our projects stronger.”
For more information on the Global Water Research Institute, visit hope.edu/water.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope College launches Global Water Research Institute
