Ever wonder about the brown and blue stripes in Lake Superior after a rainstorm? What are the impacts of climate change? Jay Austin and Liz Austin-Minor will answer these questions and more. Jay, a professor at UMD, studies the physical properties of large lakes. With academic training in oceanography, he brings the techniques of observing the world’s oceans to the Great Lakes. Liz is a professor at UMD with joint appointments at the Large Lakes Observatory and in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She studies what’s in Lake Superior’s waters and how that changes. She’ll talk about how nutrients and light availability affect lake productivity and her recent work looking at microplastics in the lake’s waters and beach sands.

Leif Enger is the author of the bestselling Virgil Wander, a novel set in a small town on the North Shore. He grew up in Osakis, Minnesota, a son of teachers and the last of four siblings who hauled him on quests, prevented catastrophes, and read aloud with endless patience. The message was that life is wild, hard, adventurous, and funny, with a friendly rhythm and occasional rhymes. It was good training for the English major he eventually became, and also instilled the desire to one day live in a harbor town with cold fogs and bridges and heavy ships arriving. Leif and his wife Robin moved to Duluth in 2018.

Together Linda LeGarde Grover and Rick Smith will explore Ojibwe families of the North Shore in literature. Linda is professor emeritus of American Indian Studies at UMD, a member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, and author of fiction, poetry, research articles, newspaper columns, and essays. She is a recipient of the Albert Tezla Teaching and Research Award for her work in integrating her research into her courses and of the UMD College of Liberal Arts Lifetime Achievement Award. Linda lives in Duluth, where she was born. Interviewer Rick is the former Director of the American Indian Learning Resource Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Rick has been involved with Indian Education for over 35 years, regionally and nationally. In addition, he serves as the Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team Elder in Residence.