Georgetown College. Georgetown University.

By Katherine Morrissey

In 1968, the Onondaga Lake in upstate New York was heavily polluted. The water turned green each summer due to intense algal growth, and a large dead-zone existed at the bottom of the lake. The local government decided it was time to try and clean things up. Georgetown Biology Professor Phil Sze, then a graduate student at nearby Cornell University, joined a team of engineers, limnologists, water chemists, and local government officials to study the green lake water and try to fix the problem.

At the time, phosphorus-rich detergents were just beginning to be identified as a major contributor to the problem of algal growth. With their test results, Dr. Sze and the other scientists working on the project were able to use the Lake Onondaga research to confirm what other studies had found regarding the dangers of phosphorus detergents. Their scientific evidence supported efforts to pass a state-wide ban on phosphorus in detergents.

All of this occurred as Dr. Sze was working on his graduate research. He was able to watch as the phosphorus ban was put into place and collect data throughout, monitoring the impact the ban had on algal levels and seeing the scum on the lake decrease.

As it turned out, reducing the phosphorus from detergents was only part of the solution. By 1972 Dr. Sze had finished his Ph.D. and began teaching at the State University of New York in Buffalo, continuing his research on the lake by visiting and having water samples sent to him. At that time, scientists on the project were dealing with the impact of phosphorus found in sewage on the lake water and worrying about excessive algal growth below the lake’s surface.

At the bottom of any body of water, a layer of material—partially treated sewage, dead plants, and dead algae—is breaking down and decomposing. This process uses oxygen and takes it from the surrounding water. The excessive amounts of algae in the water meant that too much decomposition was happening at the bottom of Lake Onondaga, leaving the water close to the bottom of the lake with little oxygen to support life and creating a “dead zone.”

Since banning phosphorus detergents had not reduced the algal growth on the lake enough to decrease its dead zone, Dr. Sze and other scientists monitored the lake as the local government built a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant for the area in the 1980s. This new plant used another pollutant, industrial waste, to remove the phosphorus, and the additional effort helped to dramatically reduce the level of algae in the water.

After Dr. Sze left the New York area to come to Georgetown in 1977, he continued to have water samples from the lake sent to him until 1995, examining changes in the algae levels and looking for the causes of these changes in the lake.

“At this point,” explains Dr. Sze, “the algae have primarily dissipated (the lake no longer turns green in summer), and we seem to have helped the problem. The lake still isn’t that clean though, so the work has been ongoing for other scientists in the area.”

At the same time as he was conducting research on Lake Onondaga, Dr. Sze was also traveling to the coast of Maine to examine seaweed growths on the Isle of Shoals. He first visited the area as an undergraduate in a short summer program run by Cornell University. The visit to Maine turned into an annual involvement in the program when Cornell decided to build a permanent facility there in 1968, where Dr. Sze visited each summer from 1974 to 2000 to teach and do field research.

Dr. Sze is interested in the relationships that exist between seaweeds and the small herbivores (snails) that eat them and in the effect of physical disturbances (waves, storms, tidal changes) on the intertidal ecosystem. One of Dr. Sze’s favorite things to examine on the Isle of Shoals is the seaweed growths that exist just between the high and low tide levels—the ones that deal with constant change between submergence in seawater and exposure to air. 

“Intertidal systems are simple compared to a forest,” Dr. Sze explains. “It appeals to me because it involves only a few species. This means I can investigate questions about how the inhabitants interact with each other and respond to their environment.”

More recently, Dr. Sze has been focusing on the expansion of the science program at Georgetown. The Department of Biology launched two new majors for undergraduates this fall, the Biology of Global Health and Neurobiology, with two additional ones currently in the planning stages. Dr. Sze’s main focus has been preparing the new Environmental Biology major, currently scheduled to launch in Fall 2008.

Dr. Sze spends the rest of his time teaching both science and non-science majors. His main courses include Ecology, Marine Biology, Ecology and the Oceans, and Ecology and the Environment. After 30 years of teaching and research, he’s beginning to think of retirement, but “that’s still several years off,” says Dr. Sze. In the meantime he’s reducing his research so he can focus more on writing and looking forward to seeing the first class of Environmental Biology majors graduating from Georgetown.

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