Courtesy the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake
The Jefferson Project at Lake George was awarded the 2017 Harold K. Hochschild Award at the annual benefit gala of the Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake in July.
The Jefferson Project—a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM Research and The Fund for Lake George—uses technology and science to preserve and protect the Lake George, known as the Queen of American Lakes.
The Harold K. Hochschild Award is dedicated to the memory of the museum’s founder, whose passion for the Adirondacks, its people and environment inspired the creation of the institution and the establishment of the Adirondack Park Agency. Presented annually to recipients in a wide range of fields throughout the Adirondack Park, it honors their work to improve the region’s culture and quality of life.
The Jefferson Project combines Internet of Things technology and powerful analytics with science to create a new model for environmental monitoring and prediction, according to project officials.
The project is building a computing platform that captures and analyzes data from a network of sensors tracking water quality and movement.
The sensor data is combined with other monitoring and experimental data to create a thorough understanding of the factors that drive the lake’s food web and overall water quality, according to the group.
Scientific insights and technology created for the project will not only help manage and protect the lake, but will create a blueprint to preserve important lakes, rivers and other bodies of fresh water around the globe.
The Jefferson Project is named after President Thomas Jefferson, who described Lake George as, “without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw.”