The Great Lakes are the largest system of accessible freshwater on Earth: these inland seas are bounded by eight states and one province and contain about 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water. Over 30 million people live within the watershed, including more than one-tenth of the U.S. population and one-quarter of the Canadian population. It's easy to see just how many people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water, agriculture, transportation, industry, power generation, fisheries, and recreation.

Though incredibly vast, the Great Lakes are threatened by decades of hard use. Lake Erie in particular is densely populated, heavily industrialized, and heavily cultivated for agriculture. Toxic chemicals and nutrients accumulated over time from direct disposal, runoff, and atmospheric deposition are still within the basins of these lakes. This is partially due to their incredibly slow outflow rate as well as the large input of pollutants, especially nutrients from agricultural and municipal runoff. Other stressors to the Great Lakes are aquatic invasive species and habitat degradation. Continued urbanization reduces habitat refuges for native species, while increased international shipping can increase the risk of the invasion of non-native species.

Buffalo, New York, is one of 17 large city regions on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Center at Buffalo State University is in a unique position to provide high-quality research and education opportunities to people who are living on and being impacted by Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The center has a research facility located on the waterfront, a fleet of boats, and field equipment that it can use to help answer questions about the ecological processes and patterns acting on the system. This is a prime site for students who wish to study how humans both create and resolve ecosystem-scale problems, especially those related to freshwater systems.