Milwaukee NSF
Milwaukee (October 6th, 2021) – It is with an enormous sense of accomplishment and affirmation we share with you the news that CALL, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM), has been awarded a major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Research on Learning for our WaterMarks project in Milwaukee. This four-year, $2.8M grant will enable CALL to expand the number of Markers across the city and support local artists and organizations to activate the Marker sites. The project Principal Investigator, Ryan Hollifield, PhD Associate Professor, Geography/Urban Studies, UWM, will lead a research team to test and evaluate community engagement and STEM learning.
The goals of WaterMarks and the NSF-funded research are to engage and activate multi-generational, diverse participants in considering water-related environmental challenges and identifying sustainable solutions. In particular, the UWM research will aid in the development of an adaptable guide with tools to advance collaboration between artists, scientists, and communities. These tools will help people understand and mobilize around environmental challenges.
Overall, the Markers will be located in neighborhoods that are predominantly low-income African American and LatinX communities that are underserved and often cut off from the natural amenities of Lake Michigan. Each neighborhood selects its own letter to represent their unique local identities and interests; at the same time the Markers create a network connecting one community to the next. Each Marker is a beacon which pulses when there are predicted heavy rains; rains which are increasingly dangerous, increasingly prevalent – as we just experienced with Hurricane Ida!
Each Marker offers solar-powered free WiFi and a direct connection to water stories from local residents and environmental experts. The Marker sites will also be activated with CALL/WALKS and WORKSHOPS and commissioned artist PROJECTS.
The WaterMarks project and funding from NSF will not only help make Milwaukee a more livable and resilient city, but it will help CALL/City as Living Laboratory more effectively fulfill its own mission and goals in New York and places around the country – to engage the unique skills of artists that can inspire deeper understandings of and new visions for the future.
About City as Living Laboratory (CALL)
City as Living Laboratory was founded by renowned environmental artist Mary Miss. CALL’s mission is to create more livable cities of sustenance through the arts. CALL has developed a FRAMEWORK for collective action to engage multi-disciplinary teams and urban residents in initiatives that raise environmental awareness and sustainable development. CALL’s strategies are based on the values of inclusion and equity and are grounded in place-based experience that makes sustainability personal, visceral, and tangible. For more information about CALL, please visit https://www.cityaslivinglab.org/.
Media Contacts
Aaron Asis
212-966-4287
www.cityaslivinglab.org/watermarks
www.watermarksmke.org
Social Media
@cityaslivinglab / @watermarksmke
About University of Wisconsin Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences
Located on the shore of the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world, our urban campus in Milwaukee’s Harbor District offers you a unique opportunity to study complex freshwater systems and the challenges our communities face. Lake Michigan is an extension of our classrooms and labs, allowing us to link science to action. Our mission is to advance fundamental and strategic science and train the next generation of freshwater professionals to inform policy, improve management, and promote the health and sustainability of freshwater systems worldwide.
Media Contacts
https://uwm.edu/freshwater/
Social Media
Instagram @uwmfreshwater
Twitter @waterscienceUWM