The Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) is the only institute in the country dedicated to the study of large lakes throughout the world. We focus on the global implications of our investigations in the areas of aquatic chemistry, circulation dynamics, geochemistry, acoustic remote sensing, plankton dynamics, sedimentology and paleoclimatology. LLO's research ranges from lakes in the East African Rift Valley and Central Asia, to the Great Lakes of North America. Close ties have been formed with institutes in Canada, Uganda, France, Norway, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Nicaragua, Malawi, Tanzania and England, as well as with many universities within the United States. At the University of Minnesota, we are part of a major limnological program that includes the Limnological Research Center and the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior on the Twin Cities Campus, and the Center for Water and the Environment in the Natural Resources Research Institute on the Duluth Campus, and the University-wide Water Resource Science program.