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Sustainable environments faculty win grant for Lake LaVerne floating islands
February 09, 2015
02/09/15
AMES, Iowa — Three Iowa State University faculty members—Austin Stewart, assistant professor of art and visual culture; Mimi Wagner, associate professor of landscape architecture; and John Downing, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology—are collaborating with the Story Soil and Water Conservation District on research and development of vegetated floating islands for ISU's Lake LaVerne.
The project, "Lake LaVerne Nutrient Pollution Reduction: Water Quality Enhancement in Small Ponds and Lakes Using Vegetated Floating Islands as Public Art," is funded through a grant from the Iowa Watershed Improvement Review Board. The faculty members will work with the conservation district to design, construct and monitor the floating islands for the amount of nutrients and carbon the plants can remove from the lake.
Stewart and Wagner both teach in the graduate program in sustainable environments in the ISU College of Design.
