Category: Student Profiles

Nadia Samaroo, current Sustainability Graduate Student

Nadia Samaroo Reflects on NOAA Fellowship and Research

by Katherine Gloede Silverman

By Nadia Samaroo: Sustainability Graduate Student; NOAA EPP/ MSI Center for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing Technologies II, Cohort III Fellow Over the past few months, I’ve been conducting research on living shorelines in New York City—specifically at West Pond in Jamaica Bay—to study how the area’s vegetation has recovered since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. This project is part of my research with NOAA CESSRST (Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies), where I’ve been combining both remote sensing data and fieldwork observations to better understand the shoreline’s recovery. My research looks at whether there has been …

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Divya Fellowship Presentation

SUS Student Completes UNH Sustainability Institute Fellowship

by Katherine Gloede Silverman

Over the Summer of 2024, current Sustainability Student Divyaprabha Chandrasekar completed a fellowship with the University of New Hampshire’s Sustainability Institute. The annual paid fellowship program places qualified students from universities all over the country with various partner organizations to work on wide range of sustainability projects. Divya noted “it’s an amazing opportunity and UNH has more areas of interest and resources to work with on sustainability parameters that CCNY sustainability students could check out.” Her fellowship focused on sustainable interior design materials with Stibler Associates. The fellowship program also brings together each cohort for a professional development retreat and …

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Student Project: Open Passive House

by Katherine Gloede Silverman

The True Cost of Passive House: Making a business case for multifamily affordable Passive House Objective:  There exists a highly compelling case for promoting Passive House building standards for the affordable multifamily sector in New York City. In addition to deep energy and carbon reductions that align with the goals of New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act, increased occupant comfort and climate resiliency will greatly benefit some of New York City’s most vulnerable populations. There is great interest in Passive House on both the supply side (designers and developers) and the demand side (customers, HPD), but there is a lack …

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Video Student Profile: Varsha Halarnkar

by Katherine Gloede Silverman

I worked as a junior architect for almost two years and working on residential redevelopment projects in the suburbs of Mumbai, India. I learned a lot from on-site experiences, coordinating with consultants, and working with an amazing team. Since my time in architecture school I was inclined towards learning more about sustainable design and construction but Mumbai as a city had very limited options to focus on this field. After contemplating it for almost a year I decided to go back to school and get a master’s degree in sustainability.  I came across the program during my research for schools …

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Student Profile: Lawrence V. Desimone, P.E.

by Katherine Gloede Silverman

I decided to attend the M. S. in Sustainability in the Urban Environment at CCNY because I was feeling stagnant at work. I wanted to earn credentials that would help me land an employment position thatseemed more interesting. I often find myself wantingsomething more out of work regardless of how useful I am to my company and my ‘workload’. For me, pursuing the Sustainability program is an attempt at finding an increased sense of meaning and gratification in my work. So far, it seems worthwhile. Most course assignments are related to topics Iam deeply interested in, and my areas of …

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