SUPERIOR, WI (KDAL) – University of Wisconsin-Superior associate professor of chemistry Lorena Rios Mendoza, along with colleagues from UW-Eau Claire, UW-Madison and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, have been awarded a grant by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin to study microplastics in the St. Louis River Estuary and western Lake Superior.
Rios Mendoza gained national and international attention due to the unique work she and her team at UW-Superior are doing to understand the sources, impacts and solutions to increased plastics in oceans and the Great Lakes.
Microplastics, microbeads and plastic fibers, are being found in water worldwide. These tiny plastics attract toxins, are eaten by aquatic bugs and fish and make their way up the food web to our dinner plates.
Rios Mendoza and her plastics research was involved with legislation in Wisconsin that bans microbeads in the water.
The more than $40,000 in grant funds will help support Rios Mendoza, two undergraduate research assistants, project supplies and travel expenses through June of 2022.
