Pictured is an aerial view of East Summit Street.

Kent State University’s Office of the University Architect is collaborating with a group of faculty members to add a research and education component to the upcoming construction project on East Summit Street.

Melanie Knowles, Kent State’s sustainability manager, says the Stormwater Advisory Committee came together to offer guidance for a portion of the project.

“We have a lot of people on campus who do research in areas related to stormwater,” Knowles says. “So they gave us insight on best practices for the stormwater management design.”

The committee members were invited to comment on the preliminary stormwater design to provide opportunities for education and research. Knowles says any time construction is done, the effect on stormwater must be considered.

“Dealing with stormwater, you want to slow it down so it doesn’t overwhelm the sewer system,” Knowles says. “Slowing it down also helps to clean that water of sediments or pollutants.”

Currently, there is a stormwater retention basin off Campus Center Drive; however, the improvements to Summit Street will change where stormwater goes.

The Summit Street Improvement project includes an enhanced stormwater management basin. The purpose of the basin is to treat water quality, as well as offer extended retention. The enhanced stormwater management basin is being designed to provide wetland ecosystem functions, but the quality of the habitat will be low in the first few years as the plant communities become established.

Lauren Kinsman-Costello, a research scientist in Kent State’s Department of Biological Sciences, says the new stormwater wetland site will provide opportunities for research and education for Kent State faculty and students and the Kent community.

“The site will be a good place to learn about basic ecology and applied environmental issues,” Kinsman-Costello says. “At the same time, we’re creating data about the site that can tell us how it’s working.”

In addition to research, Kinsman-Costello hopes to enhance opportunities for Kent State faculty members to use the stormwater site in their curriculum.

“I think the best way to use this site, because of its location, is to bring together research and education,” Kinsman-Costello says.

As an ecosystem ecologist, Kinsman-Costello says her research interest at the site is the functioning of the wetland and its ability to remove pollutants, specifically nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that can contribute to harmful algal blooms.

The Summit Street: Building a Better Way project is
designed to transform a one-mile stretch of East Summit
Street that runs through the heart of Kent State University’s
Kent Campus.

Kinsman-Costello says other research topics to be explored at the site range from the plant and invertebrate community to how much greenhouse gases are coming from the ecosystem. Multiple courses in the departments of Biological Sciences and Geology have potential to incorporate use of the site in class curriculum.

Kinsman-Costello says research is in its early phases. During the preconstruction phase, the committee has begun to collect samples to determine how water currently moves through the wetland. When construction begins in spring 2016, the researchers will monitor the construction of the wetland. Post-construction, the committee will observe the wetland’s water quality and hydrology for at least one year.

“Our hope is that students interested in aquatic ecology and sustainability will help perform most of this research and, in doing so, experientially learn basic natural science principles and applied water resource management skills,” Kinsman-Costello says.

Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to contact Kinsman-Costello at lkinsman@kent.edu for more information about research and educational opportunities in association with the Summit Street stormwater project.

To learn more about Kent State’s Center for Ecology and Natural Resource Sustainability, visit www.kent.edu/cenrs.

For more information about the Summit Street Improvement project, visit www.kent.edu/summitstreet.