I lead Water@UW-Madison, a cross-disciplinary community of practice that fosters connection and collaboration within Wisconsin’s water research community. We provide immersive research experiences for undergraduates in the Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program, we provide funding for community-based water research projects, and we work to connect faculty, graduate students, and community partners across disciplines.

I have a background in aquatic ecology, applied research, and years of experience in programming and policy. I use a science-based approach to work for healthy waters, resilient ecosystems and thriving communities.

I conducted my first aquatic macrophyte SCUBA survey in 2005. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and after we finished the last transect, we lingered… Looking up, the sun cut through water, backlighting leaf shapes and plant forms with morphologies so distinct and assertive they had personalities. Looking down, with such sunlit color and contrast, the scene became a kind of hidden underwater forest, teaming with life of all different forms and tendencies – an eco-city in anti-gravity.

That’s when I fell in love with aquatic plants — and I’ve always thought it a shame so few others have had that experience, how do you develop a sense of empathy for something you don’t really know is there? El Ovall’s work responds to a description of experience in the most generous, emotional, and evocative way I could have imagined. It’s like I’m there, and maybe now others can be too.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-mikulyuk-phd-73b54155/ https://500queerscientists.com/alison-mikulyuk/?ids=[9542,4208,301]