Science by robot: Outfitting the world’s “smartest” lake

Science Focus

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BOLTON LANDING, New York—Arriving at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's field research station on the shores of lovely Lake George, the offices appeared deserted. The station's staff didn't hide from us; they had all relocated to another building for a training session on a new piece of technology. They've been doing a lot of that lately.

The scene in their meeting room was mostly pretty standard—tables, chairs, coffee, and snacks—but not many field stations have a shiny new nine-panel computer display on the wall. And no field stations have what that display will soon be showing.

Nestled along the eastern edge of New York’s stout and beautiful Adirondack Mountains, south of sprawling Lake Champlain, Lake George is a long, glacially sculpted basin filled by clear waters. The lake is 51 kilometers long, doesn’t get much more than three kilometers wide, and has long been a natural attraction. Thomas Jefferson once called it “the most beautiful water I ever saw." But today, a partnership between IBM, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the local FUND for Lake George has a different descriptor in mind—“smartest” lake in the world. It's an effort dubbed the “Jefferson Project.”

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