The Isle Royale Institute is a cooperative project created by the staff of Michigan Technological University and the National Park Service to promote education and research at Isle Royale National Park and on the waters of Lake Superior. One of the missions for this Institute is to foster a stronger connection and understanding between the public and university research. This improvement in understanding is in part being address by public presentations by researchers at Isle Royale National Park. This presentation will review the cooperative goals of the Isle Royale Institute and address some of the history of researchers in our National Parks.