A team of Utah Valley University faculty members, led by Dr. Eddy Cadet, associate professor of environmental science, will receive a $350,000 National Science Foundation grant on Sept. 15, 2020, to study and recommend ways to rejuvenate Utah Lake.

Titled “Undergraduate Preparation through Multidisciplinary Service Learning at Utah Lake,” the grant will allow faculty and students to investigate the ecological, environmental, economic, and social impact of the lake and to inform policymakers on what it will take to bring it back to a more pristine condition.

“It took over 120 years of misuse, abuse, and a growing community for the lake and its public perception to deteriorate to its current state,” Cadet said. “It will take a committed community, researchers, and policymakers who understand why the lake is in its current condition to work together to reverse the problems that are damaging it.”

In addition to Cadet, the interdisciplinary team of UVU faculty members includes Drs. Maria Blevins, associate professor of communication studies; Weihong Wang and Hilary Hungerford, associate professors of geography and earth science; Jonathan Westover, associate professor of business and organizational leadership; and a team of undergraduate students.

“Utah Lake is a large part of what makes Utah County special, but it is often thought of negatively,” Blevins said. “Historically, Utah Lake was the freshwater jewel of Utah. Now it struggles with pollution and nutrient loading and consequently has a negative public perception.”

A unique aspect of the grant-funded project is its multidisciplinary approach to problem solving. Undergraduate students studying environmental science, geology, communication, business management, biology, and chemistry will work together in teams and side-by-side with faculty members who have expertise in those areas. Communication and business management students will learn about the geosciences and vice versa, and how their areas of study create employment opportunities when they intersect.

“One of the Utah Lake project’s goals is to give the students a chance to apply their academic work to real-world problems,” Cadet said. “It will prepare them for graduate school and teach them how they can work in combined fields.”

Students will conduct applied research designed to analyze problems impacting the lake and will report the findings to stakeholders and agencies to discuss potential solutions with them. Preparation for the projects will occur in each faculty member’s service-learning classes during the academic year, culminating in project implementation conducted as part of research course ENVT 495R, and students will be paid for their work to create access for low-income students.

The UVU team of faculty and students are partnering with the UVU Center for Social Impact and Social Impact Metrics Lab (SIMLab), as well as with five local agencies to experience the regulatory rules and guidelines that govern their areas of study and will allow them to network with professionals in their fields. The agencies include the Utah Lake Commission, Utah Department of Environmental Quality — Division of Water Quality, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, USDA — Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Utah County Health Department.

“I am a big believer in the power of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work in addressing the most pressing problems and challenges in our communities,” Westover said. “I am also a huge proponent of service-learning and undergraduate research as a means to enrich student-learning outcomes and career preparation, and this project combines all of these elements in a way that will provide tremendous impact for UVU, our students, and the community.”

The grant did not come easy. It took the UVU team creating four different proposals over four years before the National Science Foundation made the award. According to Cadet, each denial motivated the group to think deeper and better, which inspired new ideas until the latest version of the project was funded in 2020.