SUNY Buffalo to serve as host of Great Lakes Research Consortium

Buffalo, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on June 16 announced the selection of the State University of New York University at Buffalo (UB) to serve as the new host of the Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC).

A new $5 million grant to UB will support the collaborative GLRC mission that is improving the understanding of the Great Lakes ecosystem, including the physical, biological, and chemical processes that shape it, as well as the social and political forces that affect human impact on the lakes and their associated economic resources.

The investment to UB will facilitate scientific research, scholarship, and education that advances New York’s Great Lakes Action Agenda, fosters the next generation of Great Lakes scientists, and strengthens New York’s leadership in scientific initiatives across the broader Great Lakes basin. The consortium will be administered by UB’s Research and Education in Energy, Environment and Water (RENEW) Institute.

“The University at Buffalo’s strategic approach to re-establishing the Great Lakes Research Consortium will focus resources to help improve our understanding of the Great Lakes ecosystems and guide critical management decisions,” DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said.

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Since its establishment in 1986, the GLRC served as the principal scientific support organization within New York’s Great Lakes region, through the coordinated efforts of member colleges and universities, including affiliate campuses in Ontario, Canada. Under UB’s leadership, a relaunched consortium known as GLRC Strengthening Research, Education, and Aquatic Ecosystem Management (GLRC STREAM) will have an expanded scope of activities and opportunities.

The Consortium was originally established and hosted by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in collaboration with five other SUNY schools, including UB.

The GLRC is supported by the New York Great Lakes Protection Fund and New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). The recently enacted 2026-27 State Budget commitment to environmental leadership by appropriating $425 million to the EPF.