Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon names new executive director

MUSKEGON, MI – Stuart Jones, former deputy director of the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center, has been named executive director of the Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI) at Grand Valley State University.

“This is a dream job for a few reasons,” Jones said of his new position. “The group that’s at AWRI is excellent, and I can’t wait to start working with them and with those who are thinking about aquatic ecology on the main campus.”

The Water Resources Institute is a research organization within GVSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences whose mission is to “integrate research, education, and outreach to enhance and protect freshwater resources.”

The Institute operates in three areas: ecological research, information services, and education and information activities. It offers educational opportunities to students of bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Students and staff may participate in activities as volunteers, paid assistants, interns, research associates, postdoctoral fellows, or guest scientists.

Jones, a former faculty member at the University of Notre Dame’s biological sciences department, is “an extraordinarily gifted aquatic ecologist,” according to Jennifer Drake, acting vice chancellor at GVSU.

“He is deeply committed to all three pillars of AWRI’s mission—research, education, and outreach,” Drake said. “He is a strong teacher and scholar, a collaborative and curious leader, and a highly effective science communicator.”

Jones’s research focuses on ecology and environmental biology, as well as genetics and genomics.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a doctorate in limnology and marine science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after which he served as a postdoctoral fellow at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University in Gull Lake.

Jones said he was drawn to the position because of the long history of water research at AWRI and “the really great foundation that (Allen and Helen Hunting Research Professor) Al Steinman has laid over the last 20 years.

“It’s a starting point for great research and community engagement, which I hope to facilitate during my time there,” he said.

AWRI’s education and outreach program utilizes two research vessels and a classroom to communicate science to students in grades K-12, policymakers, teachers, and community groups.

“There are a lot of really good existing connections with people who live in the Lakeshore area or with Native American tribes in the area,” Jones said. “So that’s some existing engagement that I want to nurture and continue to build on.”

Jones will formally take office in January. Until then, interim director Mark Luttenton, also a GVSU professor and researcher, will continue to lead AWRI.

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