Drake University announced it is the recipient of a $175,000 grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. The grant will go toward updating and expanding an existing water quality laboratory in Olin Hall and tripling the number of students who can be served by the lab.
The existing 300-square-foot water quality laboratory will be expanded to 500 square feet and new equipment will be added in Summer 2025. The University anticipates the state-of-the-art water quality laboratory will be ready for students this fall for course-related activities. Additionally, the University has several ongoing research projects in various watershed areas around Iowa and will leverage the updated laboratory to process soil and water samples.
The water quality laboratory will provide Drake students with high-quality research experiences, facilitate hands-on learning, support extensive field monitoring capabilities, and supply local communities with actionable information to protect and enhance Iowa’s valuable water resources. Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Sustainability Claire Hruby along with other Drake University faculty members and students will collaborate to look at the impacts on drinking water and ecosystem health.
“A focus of the water quality laboratory at Drake University is to partner with various organizations to determine the origin and recreational risks from waterborne diseases,” says Hruby. “This grant will not only provide excellent resources for our students looking to gain hands-on research experience, but the findings will also benefit our larger community and the water we all rely on.”
About the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust
The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust awards grants to 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations for the purposes of scholarships and research funding. The Carver Trust supports biomedical and scientific research, scholarships, and programs addressing the educational and recreational needs of young people. Many awards given in higher education focus on teaching and research in the natural sciences. The Carver Charitable Trust has funded the development of new facilities and programs devoted to teaching and research in biology, chemistry, and related disciplines at several institutions. Grants help colleges and universities purchase laboratory instrumentation and fund projects like the expansion and updates to the water quality laboratory at Drake University.