WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A new collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey focused on delivering accurate scientific information on Indiana's natural world will be hosted by Purdue University and is set to start in 2024.
The Indiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (CRU) that Purdue will host brings together the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Purdue University, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Wildlife Management Institute.
The research unit will dig deep into issues affecting Indiana's wildlife, fish, plans and other natural resources, while also investigating the connection between the health of wildlife and Hoosiers.
“An Indiana CRU has been a long time coming and we are thrilled to welcome the new unit to the CRU family,” said Jonathan Mawdsley, chief of USGS Cooperative Research Units.
The Indiana unit is the 43rd USGS Cooperative Research Unit throughout a nationwide program that began in 1935.
The program’s goal is to increase opportunities for graduate education in fisheries and wildlife science, and to facilitate research and technical assistance between natural resources' agencies and universities.
Though the Cooperative Research Unit will be focused on natural resource management needs in the state of Indiana, many of these are also regional needs on which the USFWS will advise and coordinate, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
“Data and research constantly drive our decision making as we work to wisely manage Indiana’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources,” Indiana DNR director Dan Bortner said. “Through this new partnership, we will gain greater information about supporting stronger ecosystems for wildlife and people alike across the state.”
The Indiana CRU will consist of two to five federal scientists, along with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and administrative specialists.
Federal scientists will serve as faculty at Purdue, teaching graduate-level courses, supervising graduate students and postdocs, offering workshops for students and cooperators, and conducting research on natural resources topics.
Each CRU formalizes research priorities, like aquatic conservation or wildlife disease, and the Indiana CRU partners will decide what those will be in the coming months.
In fiscal year 2022 alone, CRU scientists and students published 416 scientific journal articles in 175 peer-reviewed journals, according to the Indiana DNR.
The CRUs involve more than 500 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the scientific process, according to a statement from DNR.
The Wildlife Management Institute will facilitate bringing CRU partners together to facilitate the research.
The new Indiana CRU will begin operations once new USGS CRU staff are in place at Purdue.
To learn more about the CRU program, visit the Cooperative Research Unit program's website.
