“When we are looking for inspiration and a vision for what is possible, the Wisconsin Academy Fellows program serves as a light, showcasing bright minds and creative voices from every corner of our state,” says Wisconsin Academy Executive Director Erika Monroe-Kane. “Academy Fellows are groundbreakers who have had a deep, meaningful impact and significantly contribute to a vibrant and brilliant Wisconsin. Reflecting the extraordinary in Wisconsin, this 2026 Wisconsin Fellows Class connects us to what is special about Wisconsin and its people.”

Established in 1982, the Fellows program is the only Award that recognizes outstanding work across the sciences, arts and Letters in Wisconsin. The 2026 Class of Fellows will join over 100 current Fellows from around the state. New Fellows include infectious disease researcher and healthcare leader Dr. David Andes; nonprofit executive and visionary urban planner Dr. Ruben Anthony; visual artist and master printmaker Emily Arthur; STEM equity advocate and psychologist Dr. Angela Byars-Winston; pioneering choreographer and dancer Li Chiao-Ping; celebrated actor, director, and novelist James DeVita; choreographer and dance educator Simone Ferro; sculptor, curator, and visual artist Martha Glowacki; performing artist and psychologist Dr. Frederick Heide; environmental toxicologist and educator Dr. Rebecca Klaper; urban ecology pioneer and author Ken Leinbach; legendary broadcaster and life sciences communicator Larry Meiller; distinguished attorney and civil servant Lester Pines; Indigenous artist and cultural educator Melanie Tallmadge Sainz; surgical oncologist, innovator, and educator Dr. Sharon M. Weber; and multi-disciplinary artist, mentor, and curator Jason Yi.

About the Fellows Program 

Since its founding in 1870, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters has been dedicated to the belief that the health of our state depends on the free exchange of ideas. The Academy Fellows program is the heartbeat of this mission, serving as the common ground where Wisconsin’s most influential thinkers, creators, and problem-solvers meet. In a time of increasing fragmentation, these Fellows create a vital statewide network that unites our rural landscapes with our urban centers, bringing together leaders from across the sciences, arts, and letters to navigate our most complex challenges. These individuals are the modern stewards of the Wisconsin Idea. Together, they remind us that our greatest resource is our shared curiosity and our dedication to making this state a place where everyone can truly find a home. 

About the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters 

A champion of independent thought, creativity, and civil discourse, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters connects people from across the state and builds common ground. Through exhibitions, publications, and initiatives, the Wisconsin Academy sparks curiosity, creativity, and dialogue across the state. The James Watrous Gallery celebrates contemporary Wisconsin artists, while Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine explores the intersections of science, culture, and the humanities. The Climate and Energy Initiative advances pathways to a sustainable future, and public talks foster meaningful connections among engaged and inquisitive people. The Academy also honors excellence through the Fiction & Poetry Awards and Fellows Awards, supports the Wisconsin Poet Laureate, and nurtures ideas and conversations that shape a better future for Wisconsin. 

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University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will host the local premiere of the film on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the University Theatre. Pre‑event exhibits open at 5 p.m. so guests can explore community tables and talk with scientists, conservation groups and students advancing freshwater solutions across Northeast Wisconsin. The screening will be followed by a live conversation with the filmmaker and  local experts featured in the film, after which guests are invited to explore student art focused on the estuary and meet representatives from local watershed organizations.

The “Natural World of the Bay” takes audiences inside the world’s largest freshwater estuary to reveal the bay’s dynamic blend of birds, fish and plants, the nutrient cycles and invasive species that shape its health, and the people who influence its future. From interviews with biologists to community stewards, viewers will see stories of northern pike migration, the seasonal spectacle of migratory birds, and the complex role of nutrients that fuel productivity while also driving algal blooms and hypoxia (“dead zones”) in some seasons – challenges that state and regional partners are actively working to address in the Lower Fox River–Green Bay system.  

“UW–Green Bay had the strongest connection to this film,” Larson noted. “From UW-Green Bay emeritus scientists like Bud Harris who helped frame the ecology of the bay, to collaborators at UW–Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences like Val Klump who’ve advanced our understanding of dead zones, to Sea Grant partners and on‑the‑water monitoring with NEW Water, this is the right place to premiere a film about freshwater science, community and solutions.”  

Event Details

• What: “The Natural World of the Bay” — Local Premiere + Community Conversation
• When: Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2026
  • 5 p.m. open house with community tables
  • 6 p.m. screening (59 minutes) + conversation with filmmaker and experts
  • 7:30 p.m. explore estuary-focused student art and community tables with representatives from Green Bay watershed organizations
• Where: UW–Green Bay campus, University Theatre
• Admission: Attendees are asked to pay what they can to attend, with a suggested $8 entry fee. 
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• Beneficiaries: UW–Green Bay Scholarships and the Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program 

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In the early 1990s, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in marine biology, Bootsma accepted a job as the first director of Lake Malawi National Park. The job was based in the southern African country of Malawi and paid just $300 a month.

“I had just gotten married, and my wife and I went there for two years, where I was in charge of this park,” said Bootsma, who is originally from Canada. “I was 24 when I started that. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I learned a lot.”

In the decades since, Bootsma has leveraged his knowledge of lake ecosystems to probe the complexities of Lake Michigan.

As associate dean, he’s also helped build the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, which launched its first graduate program in 2009 and its undergraduate major in 2021. The school’s faculty and alumni help inform policy, improve water management and promote the health and sustainability of freshwater systems worldwide.

From Lake Malawi to Lake Michigan

Back in Malawi, that first job immersed Bootsma in a national park dedicated to the third deepest lake in the world. More than 2,000 feet deep, Lake Malawi also claims more species of fish than any other lake on Earth. Most are found only in that lake.

The opportunity directed his career and life work toward limnology, or the study of inland lakes and waters. “Lake Malawi is still my first love,” Bootsma said. “It was the pivotal point in my career.” He became enamored with the intricacies of the inland lake environment and how it can be viewed from different perspectives, from biology and chemistry to physics.

The Malawi experience inspired Bootsma to return to North America for graduate school, but he continued to return to Malawi for his doctoral research. He was working in Malawi in 1999 when he found a job at 51����’s Great Lakes WATER Institute, a research center that has since blossomed into the School of Freshwater Sciences.

Probing Freshwater ecosystems

As a professor at the School of Freshwater Sciences, Bootsma is involved in a wide range of research, from climate change to the impact of invasive species. He also studies microplastics, synthetic chemicals and other substances with potential consequences for human health.

With invasive species, like the quagga mussel, Bootsma and his students are working to lessen their impact. One effort involves lining the bottom of the lake with tarps in shallow water to remove the invasive mussels. In deeper waters, the operators deploy a device called a mussel masher — a heavy plate that they drag across the bottom to crush the mussels.

Bootsma also works with colleagues in the school to deploy and oversee many instruments that collect and report vital data about Lake Michigan in real-time, via platforms like . These reports on variables like water temperature and wave conditions support anglers seeking fish, commercial ships navigating safe passage to ports and other fundamental daily operations on Lake Michigan.

In all of his work, Bootsma is connected to Lake Michigan and the people who live and work on it. That gives him satisfaction. But his greatest joys are the research dives that give him insight into the highs and lows of one of the world’s great freshwater bodies.

“My best days on the job have been out working on the lake,” he said.

Story by Tree Meinch | Explore more in Make New Waves

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This book is an excellent aid for students, practitioners, and judges. Copies are available to purchase on the  in both eBook and softbound formats.

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Melanie brings attention to the powerful connection between the Great Lakes and local communities through her mixed media works. Her work and exhibition “Working for the Water, Working for Each Other” was on display September 2024 in the 51���� Union Art Gallery.

You can see the ofrenda and other installations for yourself while they are on display October 20-November 14. Opening reception is Friday, October 31 from 5-7 p.m.

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Dr. Newton was the recipient of the 51���� Office of Research/51���� Foundation Research Award. Since joining 51���� in 2015, he has secured $6.02 million in funding, published 37 peer-reviewed articles and a book chapter, and mentored seven graduate students and postdocs. Newton serves on 25 master’s and PhD committees, is active in five scientific societies, and is an editor for an American Society of Microbiology journal.

Congratulations to Dr. Newton and everyone recognized at this year’s Employee Excellence Awards!

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• All mask plies are susceptible to UV weathering, with DOM yields following SFM>N95 > KN95.
• Aromaticity and molecular weight in FMs-derived DOM decreased generally during UV-irradiation.
• Three major fluorescent components were identified in every mask each with unique DOM composition.
• SEM images revealed clear fiber fragmentation after UV-irradiation.

Guo’s lab also has presented at various meetings and conferences recently. Dr. Guo attended the the 2025 Goldschmidt Meeting during 6-11 July 2025 in Prague, Czech Republic, and presented a paper on “Depositional history of PFAS in the bay of Green Bay in Lake Michigan over the last 80 years.”

At the ACS Fall Meeting during August in Washington DC, lab members Wenxin Zhang, Shimaa Kteeba, and Guo presented “Ultrafiltration permeation behavior and partitioning of PFAS between dissolved and colloidal phases.” Additionally, Kteeba, Krueger and Guo presented Yields and characterization of microplastic-derived dissolved organic matter from various polymers under different leaching conditions.”

Congratulations to Dr. Guo and his lab team members!

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Kahl recently retired at the end of the Spring 2025 semester. His research areas consist of air pollution methodology, long-range atmospheric transport, air trajectory modeling and enhancing science education using technology. Since 2010, Kahl has been the director of the 51���� Atmospheric Science Study Abroad in Mexico: Air Pollution and Ancient Cultures. This unique program is offered every January during the UWinteriM mini-semester. He also has offered the 40-50 hour course Meteorological Aspects of Air Pollution at a Mexican university each summer and is an author of seven children’s books about meteorology including The National Audubon Society First Field Guide to Weather (Scholastic, 1998).

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Many different Wisconsin Sea Grant staff members were instrumental in fact checking and providing resources for writing the children’s book. One of those resources was professor emeritus Fred Binkowski’s cowritten book, “People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin’s Love Affair with an Ancient Fish.” The book, which was written for adults and published in 2009, served as a launching spot for Wojahn, who wrote “Saving our Sturgeon” to be appealing and accessible to readers aged 11 and up.

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Brandon Gerig received the . The Editor’s Awards are given by the journal editor for outstanding support of the review process for the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Dean Rebecca Klaper and associate dean Harvey Bootsma both received the for serving as Conference Site Chair and IAGLR 2025 Program Chair, respectively.

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