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 …
Category: Student Profiles
SUS Student Completes UNH Sustainability Institute Fellowship
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 …
Student Profile: Sabrina Tenteromano
Growing up in the suburbs of NYC, Sabrina enjoyed a mud-covered childhood of forest fairies and cicada exoskeleton curiosity, while equally enjoying reading, writing, and watching movies. She was always sensitive to art and wanted to pursue a career that evokes the same feelings that art gave her. Then, after exposure to environmental ethics in college and the political turmoil of the mid 2010s, she realized she wanted not only to evoke those emotions, but also empower people to do something with them. Once Sabrina understood the magnitude of the climate crisis, she knew she wanted to use her skills …
Student Profile: Lia Heintjes
Lia Heintjes is from Brooklyn, New York. Despite growing up in the city, she’s always loved being outdoors and doing hands-on fieldwork. That’s why she decided to take a leap and intern at a green roofing company between her junior and senior years of college. Coming from a major in biotechnology, where processes occur at a scale too small to see with the naked eye, contributing to the transformation of large construction zones into vibrant gardens was thrilling. Lia’s mentors managed projects from design, to construction, to maintenance, and she got to learn from every step. She bid on materials, helped …
Student Profile: Mariana Moreira
Mariana Moreira is from São Paulo, Brazil. A talented illustrator with a knack for organizing spaces, she always had a passion for architecture. She inherited this from her father, who had always wanted to become an architect but could never afford the education. Together, they would visit mock-up apartments for sale, go home, and draw the floor plan of what they saw. As Mariana grew older, she became determined to fulfill her dream of pursuing an international degree related to architecture—both for herself, and for her father. She spent ten years after high school working in a variety of occupations, …
Student Profile: Mashyat Tomory
Mashyat Tomory was born and raised in Bangladesh. She has witnessed and suffered the consequences of climate-change-driven floods, including infrastructural loss, health hazards, a lack of governance and education. Her hometown Dhaka often sinks underwater and canoes often replace cars. Mashyat moved to New York in 2016 and earned her undergraduate degree in Coastal Environmental Studies from Stony Brook University. In Spring 2021, she began the City College of New York’s Sustainability in the Urban Environment program to learn how planning and policy could improve the lives of groups disproportionately harmed by climate change. Her interest in the environment started …
Student Profile: Chelsea Encababian
Sometimes taking one class can completely change your point of view. That was the case for Chelsea Encababian, a Bronx native who went to college intending to major in Asian Studies and become a Japanese Translator. Despite her intentions, she decided to enroll in an Environmental Ethics course during her sophomore year of college, because she knew the instructor was incredibly passionate. This course ultimately influenced her college experience and future career more than she could have ever imagined. Chelsea’s extracurriculars revolved around environmentalism and so did her coursework. After graduating with a double major in Asian Studies and Environmental …
Student Project: Open Passive House
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 …
Video Student Profile: Varsha Halarnkar
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 …
Video Student Profile: Joe Sollod
Featuring our graduate ambassador – Joseph Sollod! Joe, a current graduate student and graduate ambassador, is working with two teammates on a capstone project with the Chief Resiliency Officer of Hoboken to explain and evaluate climate adaptation for the city’s resiliency plan.