Inching Closer to Solutions

“We start with simple systems, and then we try to build on those as we understand what’s happening in them. Because if you just go to the complicated system right away, you can observe effects, but you can’t really figure out what they’re related to.”

That’s Linda Weavers, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at The Ohio State University, talking about one of the fundamental rules of doing science: one step at a time. Weavers and her team are studying the potential use of ultrasound to clean contaminated sediments in Lake Erie and its tributaries, a complicated process no matter what approach is taken.