A Michigan university exploring environmental problems on the Great Lakes has enlisted assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg-based research arm, forging a five-year partnership that officials say could yield nationwide benefits.

Concluded last month, the deal between Michigan Technological University and the Engineering Research and Development Center will pave the way for joint research projects, personnel exchanges and internships for Michigan Tech students at ERDC, according to a release issued by the college on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Researchers will focus on topics such as contamination of water by mercury and copper, ecosystem restoration, toxic sediments and invasive species, the release said.

ERDC, formerly called Waterways Experiment Station, uses “world-class, cutting-edge technologies and interdisciplinary approaches to address water resource issues,” according to Robert Shuchman, co-director of Michigan Tech’s satellite research facility in Ann Arbor. 

Al Cofrancesco, technical director for civil works and environmental engineering and sciences at ERDC, said lessons from the laboratory’s work with Michigan Tech could be applied to rivers, streams and lakes around the country.

“Anything we learn in these types of habitats, these freshwater habitats, we will likely be able to springboard that knowledge into similar projects,” Cofrancesco said.  “It basically helps make us a repository of knowledge.”

Located on Halls Ferry Road, ERDC employs more than 1,600 people and serves about 700 customers, including the military and other government departments.   

The center and Michigan Tech are already working on analyzing data from a survey they conducted in 2008 of toxic copper mining waste known as “stamp sands” offshore from an unincorporated village near Michigan Tech’s campus.

The work involved Michigan Tech researchers taking water and sediment samples and Army Corps scientists flying over the area with remote sensing mapping equipment, Shuchman said.

Currents and erosion have carried waste that includes arsenic and other toxic heavy metals into breeding grounds for lake trout, a major food source for area Native Americans, he said.

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Contact Ben Bryant at bbryant@vicksburgpost.com