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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program recently released their latest round of Hudson River Estuary Grants for River Education. Included is a grant for Sarah Lawrence's Center for the Urban River at Beczak (CURB) titled “Rising TIDES (Training Innovative and Diverse Environmental Scientists): EELS Team (Evaluating Estuary Lateral Species)”.
The overarching goal of The Rising TIDES: EELS Team program is to cultivate young scientists from diverse backgrounds from within the local community through intensive training and mentored education and research experience at CURB. The expectation is that by engaging in this program these students will be well-prepared to continue their science education into college and enter into the STEM workforce.
Over the course of the two-year grant, 20 high schools students from Yonkers Public Schools will learn from CURB’s highly-trained staff as well as Sarah Lawrence students and faculty at its waterfront location, engaging in place-based learning with their surrounding environment. Starting in summer 2023, 10 students will complete a one-college-credit summer intensive followed by paid afterschool education and research during the academic year. A second cohort will begin in summer 2024.
The students' collective research projects will focus on Hudson River Ecology and include data from seining, migratory eel monitoring, eDNA analysis, and use of water chemistry data from HRECOS. The eDNA presence/absence analysis will focus on the Round Goby (an invasive species from the Great Lakes) and the Lyre Goby (a new species for the Hudson River that CURB discovered last year, indicating that it may be expanding its range North due to climate change). With mentorship from staff, Sarah Lawrence students, and their teachers students will create presentations to be shared with the community. In addition to their science training lessons will include green career options, communications training, and resume assistance.
In total more than 50% of the grant budget will go directly towards travel, compensation, and tuition for the Yonkers students participating in the program.
The program is modeled after CURB's highly successful Rising TIDES: Blue Team program, which is funded by the NYS DEC Office of Environmental Justice. Blue Team also includes paid education and research experience for high school students, tiered mentorship, and life-skills lessons, but with a focus on water quality education, research, and community outreach.