Celebrate Earth Day with Our Scholars

Many Graduate Center scholars play key roles in protecting the Earth and environment through research and advocacy, from those leading citizen science efforts to examining the science of climate change communication. On Earth Day, we celebrate these scholars and invite you to join their efforts.  

Encourage citizen science, such as the work Ph.D. student Nia Rene (Earth and Environmental Sciences) oversees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tracking nitrogen contaminants and harmful algae blooms in coastal fishing areas in South Carolina.  

Build an environmental sensor with simple directions from the Advanced Science Research Center’s Professor Ricardo Toledo-Crow and Science Education Coordinator Kendra Krueger — and donate to help high school students build their own.  

Discover the fascinating world of lichens in New York City with a new field guide by alumna Jessica Allen (Ph.D. ’17, Biology), Professor James Lendemer ( Ph.D., ’12, Biology), and Biology Ph.D. student Jordan Hoffman. 

Study how the fragmentation of forests affects climate change with Professor Andrew Reinmann, a member of the Environmental Sciences Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center, who is using part of his $1 million National Science Foundation CAREER Grant to recruit CUNY students to participate in paid research training fellowships. 

Imagine a future that involves a truly sustainable society, as Professor Michael Rawson (GC/Brooklyn, History) proposes in his book The Nature of Tomorrow. He explains how historians can play a key role in changing these narratives.  

Probe deep into the science of climate change communication with alumnus Matthew Goldberg  (Ph.D. ’18, Psychology), who leads the experimental research program at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. He describes his work: “What can we do to build awareness, increase understanding, reduce barriers, and build public and political will to address climate change?” 

Listen to climate policy expert Michael Oppenheimer explain the political challenges of addressing climate change and the importance of science communication in this International Horizons podcast. “Let’s make sure that this problem, the climate problem and solving it, remains a top political priority in this country,” he says. 

Look at ways to build a “mass movement to evade the worst of the climate crisis, to overcome the worst of the climate crisis, to build the Green New Deal world that we need” with alumnus Aaron Eisenberg, who used his master’s degree in Liberal Studies to launch a career directing climate projects for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. 

Attend a two-day symposium hosted by the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center on bioinspired and green science and technology. 

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