Chapman Lab to Study Upper Newport Bay

Chapman University will set up an undergraduate teaching lab for the long-term study of Upper Newport Bay, university officials announced Monday. The lab will be paid for by a $98,539 grant from the National Science Foundation, they said.

Louise Hose, a professor in the university’s Department of Physical Sciences who is the project’s principal investigator, said, “Our goal is to establish a central depository of data that can be used by local officials and organizations as they attempt to balance growth needs with conservation of natural environmental resources.”

While the main focus will be on water pollution, Hose said, her hope is that “we will be able to provide important information about this environmentally challenged area.”

The two-year grant will fund the establishment of a laboratory classroom in the university’s science center next summer, as well as the training of Orange High School science teachers and Chapman undergraduates, who will work with their students.