Some of China’s finest high school students will visit the University of Iowa’s environmental research station on the Mississippi River from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday, July 23. The visit will be held at the Lucille A. Carver Mississippi Riverside Environmental Research Station (LACMRERS) located at 3388 Highway 22, near Muscatine, Iowa.

Doug Schnoebelen, LACMRERS director, and Larry Weber, director of IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering, will welcome the students. Schnoebelen will discuss the significance of the Mississippi River and instruct the students in scientific procedures used in field research through hands-on experiments.

The event is part of Rivers as Bridges, a program that celebrates the sister-river relationship of the Mississippi River in the United States and the Yangtze River in China.

The community of Muscatine has a special relationship with China. It's home to the Lande family, which recently welcomed Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. During his visit, the Chinese leader told the community of Muscatine, “To me, you are America.” After leaving LACMRERS, the students will visit the Lande home.

LACMRERS is part of IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering, a unit of the UI's College of Engineering. LACMRERS was established in 2002 with generous support from the Carver Trust.