March & April 2024- Issue 17 | |
The CUNY CREST Bi-Monthly Bulletin | |
The City University of New York Remote Sensing Earth Systems Institute (CUNY CREST) Bi-Monthly Bulletin is an initiative to keep you up to-date on the Institute’s success stories, events, opportunities, highlights, and more. | |
From the Desk of the Executive Director | | |
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The CUNY CREST Institute is pleased to release the March-April issue of its bi-monthly bulletin that highlights CREST’s engagements within these months. These include participation in the NCAR Research Application Laboratory Advisory Board Panel Meeting in Colorado, CO; 2024 Advancing Research Impact in Society Summit in Omaha, Nebraska; Backpacks to Briefcases and Visit Inside Staten Island Tech Program’s Outreach Meet in NYC, and Pre-College Engineering Day by LAESA-SHPE at the CCNY. Additionally, CREST co-hosted two events: ‘How Things Work'' Eco-Literacy Conference’ in partnership with the NYC Environmental Educators Advisory Council , NYC Department of Environmental Protection and James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center at the CCNY and the Earth System Science & Environmental Engineering Program Mixer at CCNY. CREST Members visited the CUNY CREST Snow Site in Caribou Maine as part of its project to enhance resiliency amongst vulnerable communities in the region. The institute celebrates the achievement of its members including students, alumni, and affiliates. Gabriella Garcia, Sameeha Malikah, & Stephanie Avila published a research journal article on Climate Research under the mentorship of Dr. Tarendra Lakhankar. Dr. Naresh Devineni welcomes his postdoctoral fellow; Seonho Kim. Mr. Harry Cikanek was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for his exceptional service to the International Astronautical Federation for more than a decade. Further, new scientists and faculty have been joining CREST as affiliate members. In this edition, CREST welcomes Dr. Spencer Hill as a faculty member. The institute is excited for its summer programs: Summer Bridge and CUNY CREST HIRES to commence in June 2024 and provides its readers a glimpse of its long standing outreach efforts serving high school and undergraduate students of the city of New York. CREST will continue to bring several exciting opportunities including upcoming events and fellowships in its future bulletin issues. | |
CREST Participates in National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Research Application Laboratory Advisory Board Panel Meeting | |
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CUNY CREST HIRES Director, Dr. Shakila Merchant participated in the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) Research Application Laboratory (RAL) Advisory Board Panel meeting from March 12 to 15, 2024 in Colorado, CO. Dr. Merchant serves as one of the members on the RAL Advisory Panel. The panel comes together every 12-18 months to provide guidance, advice, and thoughts on the several programs that the laboratory runs.
During the meeting, Dr. Merchant engaged in discussions in support of RAL mission and was invited to present on talk focused on impacts of extreme events on disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. The two-day meeting was illuminated with overview presentations by program leads on the cutting edge research that is conducted at NCAR/RAL ranging from Aviation, Hydromet, Joint Numerical Testbed, National Security, Weather Systems and Assessment and Wildfires.
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Gabriella Garcia, Sameeha Malikah, & Stephanie Avila
Publish a Research Journal Article on Climate Research Under the Mentorship of Dr. Tarendra Lakhankar
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L-R: Sameeha Malikah, Gabriella Garcia, & Stephanie Avila, and Dr. Tarendra Lakhankar | |
Gabriella Garcia, Sameeha Malikah, & Stephanie Avila published a research article titled Historical Climate Trends and Extreme Weather Events in the Tri-State Area: A Detailed Analysis of Urban and Suburban Differences in the Climate journal by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) issued in February 2024. They conducted the research under the mentorship of CUNY CREST Research Scientist, Dr. Tarendra Lakhankar. The purpose of this article is to relay the impacts of climate change over time on temperature and precipitation trends in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut through the analysis of seasonal, annual, and spatial trends in temperature and precipitation. | |
CREST Co-Hosts the ‘How Things Work’ Eco-Literacy Conference | |
In partnership with New York City (NYC) Environmental Educators Advisory Council (EEAC), NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center, CREST co-hosted "How Things Work" Eco-Literacy Conference on March 5, 2024 in the Great Hall at the City College of New York. The conference was well attended by two hundred (200) middle school, high school and college students and their teachers and fifty (50) environmental educators including sixteen (16) exhibitors that displayed different ecosystem focused demonstrations ranging from water quality monitoring to solar energy and green roofing. | |
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A New Post Doctoral Fellow Joins the CREST Institute | | |
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CREST Faculty affiliate and Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at CCNY, Naresh Devineni welcomed a new Post-Doctoral Fellow, Seonho Kim in February 2024. Seonho’s work will focus on better understanding the role of water demand on drought risks. Seonho keenly looks forward to his journey as a postdoc at CCNY. He is excited about the exposure to new opportunities, resources, and the chance to work with his advisor, Dr. Devineni. Seonho is also excited to learn about the CREST affiliate’s involvement in HyperFACETS and hopes to collaborate to enhance his research outcomes. | |
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CREST Attends and Presents in the 2024
Center of Advanced Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Summit
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CUNY CREST HIRES Director, Dr. Shakila Merchant, along with Dr. Jackie Weissman, Director of Proposal Development, Office of Research, CCNY and Dr. Effie MacLachlan, Director of Grants, CUNY Office of Research participated and presented in the recently held 2024 Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Summit held in Omaha, Nebraska. The 3-day Summit held during April 3-5, 2024 was co-hosted by the Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for the Study of STEM Interventions. During the Summit, Dr. Merchant participated in several engaging activities including informative keynote speeches, discussion sessions on broader impact, private zoo-tour and award ceremony, ARIS Impact Slam, and Nebraska Science Festival Science Crawl. She also co-presented a poster at the Summit. | |
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Site Visit to Caribou, Maine as Part of a Project to Enhance Resilience Amongst Vulnerable Communities in the Region | |
L-R: Richard Rivera, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi, Dr Tarendra Lakhankar | |
CREST visited one of its sites in Caribou Maine as part of its project on Enhancing Resilience: National Weather Services for Environmental Justice in Vulnerable Communities from April 2 to 4, 2024. CREST Executive Director, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi; CREST Research Scientist, Dr Tarendra Lakhankar, and The City University of New York Doctoral Student, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies II (CESSRST) Cohort 2 Fellow, and 2023 CUNY CREST HIRES Mentor, Richard Rivera participated in the visit. Other attendees included NWS Caribou Maine’s Louise Fode, Todd Foisy Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency’s Darren Woods, and Mi'kmaq Nation’s Shawn Newell. The purpose of the trip was to enhance the collaboration between the National Weather Service (NWS) and various stakeholders in vulnerable communities, focusing on improving resilience through better weather services and emergency management. | |
CREST at the 2024 Pre-College Engineering Day by Latin American Engineering Student Association Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineerings | | |
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CREST participated in the 2024 Pre-College Engineering Day by Latin American Engineering Student Association Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineerings on April 5, 2024 at the City College of New York, a 10 year long tradition. Mr. César Ortiz, CREST Office Manager, Dr. Liubov Kreminska, Administrative Director of the Earth System and Environmental Engineering (ESE) Degree Program at CCNY, and Ms. Srishti Tyagi, CREST Communication Manager and CUNY HIRES Coordinator represented the institute at the event.
During the event, CREST facilitated the lab tours for the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), facilitated by Dr. Yonghua Wu, Research Scientist, CCNY and Ocean and Coastal Optical Remote Sensing (ORS) Lab, facilitated by Mateusz Malinowski, Ph.D. Student at CCNY at the Grove School of Engineering. Further, during the opportunity fair, CREST Team interacted with students to help them learn about the various opportunities available within the City College, CREST, and ESE degree program.
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CREST Co-Hosts the Earth System and Environmental
Engineering Program Mixer
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CREST co-hosted the Earth System and Environmental Engineering (ESE) Program Mixer on April 18 2024 in Marshak 105-107, City College of New York. Current and prospective ESE students, faculty, and staff attended the mixer.
The mixer event began with welcome remarks from the ESE Program Director, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi. ESE faculty members then introduced themselves and shared their research interests and potential research opportunities that ESE students can engage in. ESE students who serve in the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and NYWEA (New York Water Environment Association) presented their activities and introduced their executive board to all students. ESE students later mingled with their peers and also asked the faculty questions about the program and course & curriculum, research and internship opportunities available to them through the ESE program. The mixer ended with raffles and the winners were excited to win ESE and CCNY gizmos!
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CREST Faculty Highlight:
CREST Welcomes Dr. Spencer Hill
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Dr. Spencer Hill joined the CREST Institute as its affiliated faculty member in March 2024. Dr. Hill joined CCNY as an Assistant Professor in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department in fall 2023. He teaches Climate dynamics, statistical methods in Earth Sciences. Dr. Hill also serves as the principal investigator on the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study “How Do Energy Fluxes Link Precipitation Variability Across the Tropical Weather-Climate Continuum?” | |
Harry Cikanek Receives the International Astronautical Federation Distinguished Service Award | |
Left to Right: Christian Feichtinger, Executive Director, Clay Mowry, President, Marie Antonietta Perino, Awards, Asandu Sangoni, Vice President, Honors and Awards. | |
CUNY-CREST’s Business Development and Entrepreneurship Pillar Director, Mr. Harry Cikanek received the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Distinguished Service Award on March 28, 2024 at the IAF Spring Meeting. Mr. Cikanek received this award for his exceptional service to IAF for more than a decade serving in various capacities including delegate, author, vice chair, and chair of the Earth Observation Committee, the Global Earth Observing System of Systems Subcommittee and the Space Transportation Committee. | |
Glimpse into CREST’s Outreach Events | |
Grant, Upcoming Events, and Fellowship Opportunities | |
CREST Deliver, Dialogue, Discuss, & Discourse D4 Launch | |
The CUNY CREST Institute is pleased to launch its Deliver, Dialogue, Discuss, & Discourse (D4) Series. The first event under this series will kick off virtually on May 14th from 12:30-1:30pm EST focusing on one of the grand challenge topics; Enhancing Global Disaster Resilience with Innovations & Opportunities and a Review of India’s Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy.
Dr. Santosh Kumar, Formerly Senior Advisor, National Institute of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India will serve as the speaker. Dr. Kumar is a leading development economist, trained in disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and capacity development with more than three decades of combined experience in institution building, public policy, and governance. Join the seminar to attend his talk and participate in a Q&A session!
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NOAA EPP/MSI
CESSRST II Fellowship
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA CESSRST) II is one of the four Cooperative Science Centers. The program is funded by the NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving institutions (EPP/MSI). It provides the education and training for graduates to form a pathway to workforce opportunities within NOAA and the NOAA mission enterprise. | |
UCAR’s Next Generation Graduate Fellowship |
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The Next Generation Fellowship is a 2 year program for students currently enrolled in graduate studies related to Earth System Sciences at a North American university. This program provides the opportunity for fellows to explore the interplay between scientific research, diversity and inclusion, and public policy within the field of Earth Systems Science.
Full Application Deadline: May 31, 2024
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About the CUNY CREST Institute
The CUNY CREST institute was officially approved in June 2010 and inaugurated on November 29, 2010. It is a collation of interdisciplinary researchers across CUNY system who are passionate about addressing grand societal challenges through advanced Earth System Sensing technologies, raising awareness, engaging secondary & postsecondary students & community outreach. The institute is designed to provide a collaborative environment for faculty and scientists from various CUNY campuses to engage in the field of Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing. This environment helps create opportunities to attract external funding and bring in new resources for the faculty, students, and CUNY as a whole. For additional information, visit crest.cuny.edu.
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