Department of Environmental Sciences

Facilities and Research Equipment

The Department of Environmental Sciences has modern, well-equipped analytical laboratories, a wide variety of field equipment, state-of-the-art computer facilities, field vehicles and boats, and a fully equipped and staffed machine shop.

FACILITIES

Wolfe Hall and Bowman Oddy Lab

Bowman-Oddy/Wolfe Hall houses most of the Department of Environmental Sciences faculty offices, classrooms and research laboratories. The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is located in Wolfe Hall.

Lake Erie Center

The University of Toledo's Lake Erie Center is an interdisciplinary research and education center dedicated to solving environmental problems at the land-water interface and bay-lake exchanges in the Great Lakes - the world's largest freshwater ecosystem. The Lake Erie Center is an integral environmental resource at The University of Toledo and is located in the northwestern corner of Ohio's Maumee Bay State Park. Research at the Lake Erie Center explores the linkages among land use, aquatic resources, water quality, sustainable living and human health - using the Maumee River and Bay and its key influence on the western Lake Erie Basin as a model. The Lake Erie Center assembles within a single facility programs and expertise in aquatic conservation, bioremediation and restoration, coastal zone processes, environmental chemistry and hydrology, ecology and ecosystem management, fishery genetics, geography and land use planning, limnology, remote sensing, and environmental and health monitoring.

Lake Erie Center Website

Stranahan Arboretum

The University of Toledo's Stranahan Arboretum is a 47-acre site, a 10-minute drive from the main campus, that consists of cultivated ornamental trees, rolling lawns, natural woods, ponds, wetlands and prairie. This serves as one of the Department of Environmental Science's field sites for environmental education and research. Both graduate and undergraduate courses in ecology and geology use the Arboretum as an outdoor laboratory. It also hosts a number of educational programs for area school students (K-12) throughout the year.

Stranahan Arboretum website

Plant Science Research Center

The Plant Science Research Center (PSRC) undertakes basic research in plant biology with an emphasis on plant molecular biology, nutrition, pathology, bioremediation, and ecology. The PSRC instructs students from undergraduate through post-doctoral levels; develops, in collaboration with other academic, government and industrial partners, technologies for transfer to the public and private sectors; and serves as a regional and global resource for research in the plant sciences.

PSRC website

 

Research Equipment

Pontoon Boat
R.V. Perforator Pontoon boat for non-winter vibracoring, Livinston coring, towing seismic equipment, etc.
 
Vibracoring from frozen lake surfaces
Vibracoring from frozen lake surfaces. Equipment hauled by snowmobile.
 
Dedicated Chevy Truck   RV Zippy Boat
Dedicated truck, Chevy Silverado 2500 4x4   R.V. Zippy, support boat for Perforator
 
Laser Leveler   Drill Rig
Laser Leveler   Truck pulled department drill rig
 
EdgeTech Sub-Bottom Profiler    
EdgeTech SB512i multi-frequency sub-bottom profiler    
 
Ground Penetrating Radar   Ground Penetrating Radar
Ground Penetrating Radar - PulseEKKO system with 50, 100, and 200 MHz antenna
 

Lab Equipment in the glacial lake and sediment science (GLASS) lab

Grain Size Analyzer   Microscope with Camera
Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser diffraction grain size analyzer and dedicated Dell desktop plus printer   Leica binocular microscope with in-situ digital camera attachment
 
Drying Oven and Muffle Furnaces   Magnetic Susceptibility Meter
Drying oven and muffle furnaces   Bartington MS2 Magnetic Susceptibility Meter and MS2E Sensor
 
Dedicated Lab for Sampling and Coring   Mettler Toledo Scale
Dedicated labs for describing samples and cores   Mettler Toledo digital balance, mixer and desiccator

GEOPHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Gravity meter Lacoste-Romberg G-1109
Magnetometer Geometrics G-858
Engineering seismograph 24-channel Geometrics GEODE
Geophones 24 vertical 4.5 Hz, 24 100 Hz (vertical, can be used horizontal), 24 33Hz horizontal
Cables 2 12-takeouts 100 foot spacing, 2 12-takeouts 35 foot spacing, 1 'new' 24 takeouts 3 meter spacing
Seismic source BETSY seisgun, 8 and 12 gauge shotgun shell holders
Seismic software SeisImager/2D Refraction Data Analysis Software
Electromagnetic Geonics EM34
Electromagnetic Geometrics Ohmmapper
Electrical resistivity AGI R1IP Supersting with switching box
Resistivity cables (2) 28-takeouts each, 10 m spacing and 5 m spacing
Resistivity wires 2 pairs, reels in metal carrying case, 1000 feet of wire on each spool.
Resistivity software Interpex IX1D V. 3, AGI EarthImager 2D
Earthquake seismology Kinemetrics PS-2 smoked paper portable seismograph, SS-1"Ranger" seismometer
Surveying Sokkia SET3B2 total station
In other labs Other faculty have ground-penetrating radar and 1-channel marine seismic reflection unit
For further information, contact retired associate professor Dr. Don Stierman at dstierm@utnet.utoledo.edu.   
Last Updated: 6/27/22