Team Members

Caren J. Ackley

Key Personnel 

Caren, an enrolled member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, is the Environmental Biologist for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. Her work at the Commission is focused on protecting the health of tribal communities and treaty resources by reducing environmental contaminant exposures, primarily through GLIFWC’s Mercury Program for Promoting Safe Fish Consumption among GLIFWC member tribes. Caren completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Geosciences and the University of Wisconsin – Parkside where she participated in research on transport and fate of contaminants, specifically heavy metals and pharmaceuticals, and her MSc in Geography in the Cold Regions Research Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University where her research focused on impacts of wildfire on runoff water flow path and chemistry in permafrost peatlands including changes in nutrients, mercury, and methylmercury.

Melissa F. Baird

Co-PI

Melissa is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Michigan Tech. Her multi-sited ethnographic and forensic research investigates extractive zones - the places where industries, communities, and ecologies converge. You can learn more about her work here.

Michelle Bollini 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Michelle is a senior at Michigan Technological University pursuing a degree in environmental engineering. She hopes to develop sustainable agricultural solutions that promote food sovereignty and environmental conservation. She is glad to be a part of this project and the opportunity to work with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to support human-environment relationships. She enjoys running and exploring Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Elizabeth Brown 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Elizabeth Brown is a third year Sustainability Sciences and Society major, and is also pursuing a minor in Earth Sciences. Her interests include environmental justice, geology, and social equality. In the future, Elizabeth aims to work with Indigenous peoples on tribal-lead environmental conservation, and to help communities defend from large corporations. She is grateful and eager to pursue this opportunity to work with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and hopes her time in this project will provide experience for her future career ambitions. 

Emma Doyal

Fourth-year Environmental Engineering, MTU

Emma works with Drs. Urban and Perlinger to develop the Tribal Landscape System Fish database and map this data. Emma is honored to have the opportunity to work with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. She has loved learning more about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula lakes and their fish populations, and having the opportunity to work on a project that benefits these water bodies and the communities who live in and around them.

Amanda Freele, E.I.T.

Amanda recently graduated from Michigan Technological University with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Environmental Engineering. She is building the Tribal Landscape System Fish Toxics Analysis Program database containing concentration and quality assurance data.

Molly Greene

Fourth-year Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University.

Molly is working with Dr. Urban to create maps for various watersheds throughout the Keweenaw. Molly is also developing a database containing water quality measurements and information regarding Torch Lake and its surrounding streams with Drs. Urban and Perlinger.

Libia Hazra

Graduate Research Assistant

Libia Hazra is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering. She completed her M.Sc. in Environmental Science at GITAM University, India and her Bachelors in Physics with accompanying subjects Mathematics and Chemistry. Libia has worked in groundwater resources of coastal aquifers alongside the Bay of Bengal. She also worked at Ecotoxicology laboratory, SACON, India, where her research activities included heavy metal analysis in soil and quantification of pesticide contamination in fishes and birds by using different instrumental techniques. As a woman, being born and brought up in rural part of India, Libia says she is a witness of so many environmental consequences that deep inside she knew she would grow up to solve environmental problems, to improve the quality of life, and make public health better. She will be working with Dr. Urban and Dr. Perlinger researching the bioaccumulation of toxics fish and transport and fate of heavy metals from mine tailings.

Larissa Juip

Graduate Research Assistant

Larissa is a PhD student in the Social Sciences department pursuing a degree in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology.  She has a background in anthropology, archaeology, and history, and has worked in heritage interpretation for nearly a decade.  Her research, guided by the Two Row Wampum belt and utilizing Indigenous methodologies like Storywork, is influenced by her Onondaga heritage.  Since 2017, she has worked as an educator with an Anishinaabe youth STEM camp out of the Fond du Lac Nation (MN), gidakiimanaaniwigamig.

“Although we are in different boats, you in your boat and we in our canoe, we share the same river of life.” -Oren Lyons, Onondaga Faithkeeper

Kelly Kamm 

Key Personnel

Kelly is an epidemiologist in the Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology Department at Michigan Tech University. Her research seeks to understand factors in our society and environment that impact health and healthy behaviors in rural, underserved populations. Her focus is to work in partnership with communities to develop place-based interventions that improve healthy behaviors related to nutrition and infectious diseases. 

Maya Klanderman 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

 Maya is a sophomore at Michigan Technological University in the Department of Social Sciences. She is currently pursuing a degree in Sustainability Science and Society as well as in Anthropology. She has an interest in sustainable food systems, agroecology, and environmental history. She is honored to take part in this project and to learn more about how storytelling can connect people together. She is looking forward to working with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and furthering her environmental philosophy. In her free time, Maya enjoys going for a run, traveling, bird watching, cooking, puzzling, and hiking around the Upper Peninsula. 

Daniel J. Lizzadro-McPherson

Geospatial Research Scientist

 Daniel is a Geospatial Research Scientist at the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) at Michigan Technological University. As a passionate field geologist and geographer/cartographer, his aim is to connect people to the physical, cultural, and historical environment with geospatial technology and through participatory mapping experiences. With expertise in Geographic Information Systems/Science (GIS) and Keweenaw Geology and Geoheritage, Lizzadro-McPherson supports the TLS research team’s map production and geospatial data dissemination. Furthermore, Daniel offers mentorship for students and researchers in the areas of GIS, web-GIS applications, and StoryMap development. In his downtime, Lizzadro-McPherson can be found wandering the cobble-pebble beaches of the Keweenaw in search of agates, greenstones, and countless other gifts that Mother Superior provides.

Gene Mensch

Project Partner

Gene is the Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources Department.

Jenna Messer

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Jenna is a sophomore at Michigan Technological University in the Department of Social Sciences. She is currently pursuing a degree in Policy, Law and Society and Society with a minor in Psychology. She is a tribal member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and lives on the reservation. She is excited to learn more about her culture throughout the course of the project. She also enjoys spending time around the lake, preferably alone and when it's cold out.

Sara Moses 

Key Personnel

Sara is an Environmental Toxicologist for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. Her research assesses risks posed by contaminants on environmental and human health. Her focus is on contaminant threats to natural resources of importance to Tribes and risks to tribal members via the utilization of those resources (e.g. contaminant exposures via fish consumption). She has particular interests in social and environmental justice aspects of contamination and the disproportionate health impacts of environmental contaminants on Tribes as a result of their high utilization of and intimate relationship with natural resources and the environment.

Azmat Nassem 

Graduate Research Assistant

I am a PhD student in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geospatial Engineering. Before joining Michigan Tech, I was working as a junior Research Fellow at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. My background is in Civil engineering and was focused on the fate and transport of emerging contaminants in wastewater. During my Master’s degree program, I worked in a UK-India collaborative research project, "FAME (Fate and Management of Emerging Contaminants)" funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK, and the Department of Science and Technology, India, which provided the basis for my interest in research on organic pollutants. As a doctoral student at Michigan Tech, I will be advised by Drs. Noel Urban and Judith Perlinger in understanding factors determining concentrations of organic toxics such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds, Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), Chlordane, and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in local fish. 

Enid Partika 

Graduate Research Assistant

Erid is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering. Before her time at Michigan Tech, she received her MS in Analytical Chemistry and her Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Systems and Environmental Chemistry from University of California, San Diego where she developed an award-winning small-scale food waste digester and hydroponics system. As a graduate student at Michigan Tech, Enid will be working with Judith Perlinger and Noel Urban on developing a QAPP for PCB and toxics analyses of Great Lakes fish tissue in collaboration with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community using GC Tandem MS.

Judith Perlinger

Co-PI

Judith is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Michigan Tech. Her research focuses on environmental transport and transformation of organic toxics and mercury for determination of environmental exposure to these toxicants. She employs laboratory measurements and experiments, field measurements, and computer modeling in carrying out this research. Her role in this project is to oversee measurement of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compound, dioxins, and furans, and other organic toxics concentrations, as well as fatty acids concentrations, in fish from area lakes, and to collaborate in investigating the causes of differences in fish burdens of organic toxics in the lakes. 

William Piskie

Undergraduate Research Assistant

William is a second year pursuing a degree in wildlife ecology and conservation and a minor in physics. He is honored to be working with the KBIC and is grateful to learn about tribal landscape systems. William enjoys four season camping and being connected with nature. He photographs and makes linoleum cut prints of nature and people around him. He frequents Nara nature preserve in the fall for the sunrises that inspire him and his work.

Wathsala Prasadini Kapuralage

PhD student in Chemistry

Wathsala is conducting research with Judith Perlinger (Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering) and Sarah Green (Chemistry). She is studying PFAS concentration measurement in the atmosphere, measuring PCB concentrations in fish tissue, and studying the transport and transformation of these toxicants in the environment.

Dione Price 

Project Partner

Dione is the Environmental Specialist for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources Department where she assists with various environmental disciplines including pollution prevention, historical contamination, waste management, renewable energy, brownfields, recycling, National Environmental Policy Act reviews, and human and environmental health within the reservation and ceded territory. Dione is a member of KBIC’s Waste Advisory Board, Chair of the Committee for Alternative and Renewable Energy, and Vice-Chair of the Torch Lake Public Action Council.

Madison Pullen

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Madison is a senior at Michigan Technological University graduating with a degree in environmental chemistry. She hopes to attend graduate school in a PhD program in climate change research focusing on biogeochemical cycling with atmospheric and oceanic chemistry. Her passion for the outdoors has led her to pursue STEM and environmental research that has taken her around the world. Growing up in West Michigan, she has connected with the Michigan landscape and loves life in the Upper Peninsula and is glad she can contribute her knowledge and efforts to the Lake Superior watershed and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. 

Evelyn Ravindran

Co-PI

Evelyn is an enrolled member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) and serves as the Director of Natural Resources for the KBIC. In working for the KBIC for more than three decades, she has served in many capacities for the protection of treaty resources and revitalization of food sovereignty. Her main priorities are to share KBIC stewardship and governance practices for Lake Superior basin communities and to work in partnership with others for the restoration and protection of relationships between water, air, fisheries and forests, and many other plant and wildlife communities. 

Cassandra Reed-VanDam

Masters Student in Applied Ecology 

Cassandra is a second year masters student in applied ecology, studying wild rice restoration in partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. Advised by Dr. Val Gagnon, Cassandra works to bridge knowledge systems within the field of restoration ecology, grounding her work in the relationships of this place.

Emily Shaw

Current Knauss Fellow (NOAA), Former Graduate Research Assistant

Emily recently completed her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering; her research focused on quantifying mixture toxicity associated with fish consumption. Her work is rooted in an Indigenous framework for the purpose of rebuilding relationships with land and water.

Camille Talarczyk

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Camille is a junior at Michigan Technological University studying environmental engineering. She is passionate about integrating community involvement into water resources engineering and hopes to use her degree to restore natural systems and improve clean drinking water accessibility for all. Her interests include stream restoration, sustainability, environmental policy, and food sovereignty. Outside of her studies, Camille enjoys going on long hikes, cooking, and playing chess. Camille is incredibly grateful to work with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and is looking forward to soaking up as much knowledge as possible along the way.

Mai Anh Tran

Graduate Research Assistant

Mai Anh is a PhD student in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science pursuing a degree in Forest Science. She received her Masters in Forest Science at Kookmin University, South Korea. Her background includes livelihood resilience, Indigenous knowledges, tree-planting decisions, and wildlife conservation. Her research is in partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, studying the relationship between tribal people and forest ecosystems and climate-related changes on forest landscape. 

Noel Urban

Co-PI

Noel is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Michigan Tech with research interests in Biogeochemistry.  His role in this project is to investigate the causes for differences in fish burdens of mercury and PCBs; this work clarifies healthier sources of fish for human consumption and may also elucidate means of improving the health of the lakes.

Erika Vye 

Project Communications

Erika is a Geosciences Research Scientist and part of the University-Indigenous Community Partnerships at the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University. She is a geologist and geoheritage specialist with expertise in formal and informal place-based education initiatives that broaden community Earth sciences and Great Lakes literacy with focus on traditional knowledge, research, education, and citizen science on environmental issues ranging from shoreline erosion, increased storm surges, lake level rise, severe weather, climate change, and migration of legacy mining stamp sands.