You’re invited! On June 17, the New York Harbor School will be hosting its 10th Annual Marine Science Symposium through the digital cloud! Experience environmental science from our very own Marine Biology Research and Harbor SEALs scholars. Our honored keynote guests will be Dr. Kathleen Nolan, Chair of Biology at St. Francis College and Mr. Andrew Sommer, alumnus NYHS, class of 2015. Dr. Nolan and Mr. Sommer will share their personal and professional journey through the exciting world of scientific research. In addition, we will be honoring this year ’s NYC Terra ISEF Fair participant, Katherine Mumford, our post-secondary and industry partners, our MBRP symposium finalists, and our Manhattan Borough President, the Honorable Gale Brewer! Please take a moment to view our MBRP Class of 2021 websites.
The MBRP community would like to extend a warm thanks to our NYHS custodial staff, Mr. Benito Nunez, for assuming the oversight of the Marine Science lab for the complete year of the pandemic. Mr. Nunez has kept over 100 tilapia, various tropical freshwater and saltwater invertebrates, fish, reptiles, and amphibians alive and healthy! Benny – Thanks-a-million! The MBRP and the NYHS is tremendously fortunate to have you on the team!
Lastly, it’s with great grief that I inform you of the passing of marine restoration scientist and friend, Dr. Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, after an accident in her native Israel. We are most grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Perkol-Finkel over the last 10 years. Her legacy will live on as her company, Econcrete Co., continues to innovate and build biodiversity-attracting solutions into our coastal infrastructure. This symposium is dedicated to Dr. Perkol-Finkel.
If you’d like to participate as a judge during the fair, you may use this link.
Brought to you by our MBRP class of 2021 (and 2022) scholars.
Front to back – Emily Lysakova (class 2021), Nicholas Ring (alumnus class 2018) ,Jonah Florholmen-Bouman (class 2020) calibrating a fathometer to measure the depth and change of a sand quarry off the coast of Staten Island in a joint project between New York Harbor School’s Harbor SEALs and SUNY Stony Brook with Professor Henry Bokuniewicz (Photo credit: Mauricio González).
SAVE THE DATE: May 15 we will host our 8th Annual Marine Science Symposium at the New York Harbor School. We have the privilege to present as our guest speaker Ms. Rachael Miller, Director of the Rozalia Project and one of the pioneers in ocean plastics research.
The Fall Semester of the 2017-2018 school year has been another successful season for the Marine Biology Research Program (MBRP) and the Harbor SEALs in particular. We began the year with a recruitment campaign for the new cohort, led by our junior and senior leaders, which managed to attract and retain over 25 team members. For those of you unfamiliar with after school science clubs, this is an impressive feat. Next, our grant proposal to ConEdison was successfully submitted and rewarded, with the help of Matthew Haiken from the New York Harbor Foundation. Funds from this grant have allowed us to run our ambitious STEM program preparing the next generation of marine scientists. They also benefit the various animals we house in our Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) including Valrie and Amaya, Red-Eared Slider turtles and hundreds of tilapia. Next, we initiated a special collaboration with one of our professional partner organizations, SUNY Stony Brook, to monitor an underwater sand quarry in the Harbor originally dug out decades ago to provide sand for major construction projects around NYC. Our students plan on compiling and comparing spatial-temporal data to discern changes in sedimentation that may have occurred over time.
In November we celebrated our 8th annual Harbor SEALs-giving with scholars, alumni, colleagues, and friends. Next year we plan on hosting an alumni after-party in lower Manhattan.
December was a busy month during which we convened our Professional Advisory Committee, I took a Master Class on the history of Eugenics run by Dr. Allen Spiegel, Head of Einstein’s School of Medicine, and visited ConEdison’s Learning Center in Queens with our senior research scholars thanks to an invitation by our PAC member, Michael Kessler. Our scholars got a tour of their world-class learning facility and learned about ConEdison’s unique employment programs and benefits as part of their Work-Based Learning program at the New York Harbor School.
In January our senior scholars took their culminating Career and Technical Education assessments. All seniors took and passed the NOCTI Natural Resources Systems exam. Most scholars also qualified for three college credits through the assessment in Natural Resources Management. We also implemented for the first time the Precision Natural Resource Science assessment. This assessment will replace the NOCTI as part of the Career and Technical Education’s program re-certification process.
Also in January, five of our senior Marine Biology research scholars received notice that they have been accepted to compete in the prestigious New York City Science and Engineering Fair in March! This ranks them among the best science scholars in New York City. Our senior scholars have been busy with their Career and Financial Management course updating their Work-Skills Employabilty Profiles, updating ePortfolios and regular binder portfolios, creating LinkedIn accounts, and initiating an on-line writing exercise called the Self-Authoring Suite thanks to funding from NYC’s Department of Education Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality. I have also had the privilege of meeting with NYC Chancellor of Schools, Ricardo Carranza, to discuss topics in school equity, bias, and diversity, among others, as part of the opportunities offered by the Big Apple Award.
Lastly, the Harbor SEALs monitoring team has accomplished the following objectives this season:
01) Installed heaters to an experimental tank to grow Red-Eared Slider turtles. We were also able to install new air and water pumps.
02) Our Biodiversity team has been hard at work planning the design of a long-term experiment to test for the biodiversity of marine invertebrates using Econcrete tiles in the Hudson River. We are in the process of purchasing the materials and plan on beginning the mixing of Econcrete cement in the coming weeks.
03) Our Physical-Chemical team has also been hard at work calibrating and maintaining their instruments in order to start sampling the Hudson River in February. They have been adding pH probes and conductivity probes to the machines and calibrating them in order to ensure precise and accurate measurements.
04) Our Microbiology team has been training the younglings to sample for E. faecalis and the relative concentrations of plastic and plankton in the Harbor.
05) Our Data Management team has been producing data tables and data flow strategies for our Team’s data collection efforts.
06) Our whole team has gone out for mock sampling events twice in the Fall semester. We plan on starting our field sampling this month.
A heartfelt thank you to all our colleagues, family, friends, post-secondary, and industry partners for your continued support! Happy Lunar New Year!
Go New York Harbor School Science!
Valrie and Amaya, Red-Eared Slider turtles (Photo credit: Mauricio González).8th annual Harbor SEALs-giving!“Team Fathom” on a mission to measure the Harbor’s depth changes.“Team Fathom:” Nicholas Ring, Emily Lysakova, Gabriel Castro, Kyle Walter, and Jonah Florholmen-Bouman.Leo McGuinness, Team Microbiology Co-mentor showing off his Sedgewick-Rafter plankton counting cell.Marine Biology Research scholars, Class of 2019Marine Biology Research Program alumnus, Seth Rivera, class of 2018.December Professional Advisory Committee members meet and greet with our Marine Biology Research Scholars. Many of our scholars are being mentored by our PAC members in long-term research projects (Photo credit: Mauricio González).Dr. Allen Spiegel and Mauricio González.Our visit with Con Edison’s Andrew Simpson and Michael Kessler at their world-class Learning Center.Celebrating Winter Solstice with our senior marine research scholars. Rosalia prepared special treats for us.Our Harbor SEALs Junior leadership: Lisette Mejia and Jacqueline Obermayer, Project Manager and Operations Analyst respectively.Our unofficial NYHS pool/ice skating rink!
MBRP class of 2018! Guess who’s been photo-shopped? (Photo editing and credit: Mauricio González)
What a whirlwind of a Spring semester! First off: Marine Biology Research Program class of 2018, you will be missed dearly. I know I say this about most graduating classes but I can’t get used to the loss. You’re all moving on to your next goals stronger, smarter, and as self-reliant young adults. The future is your oyster. I am confident in seeing you off. Change the world!
Getting dirty! We have a saying in the MBRP: You’re not a real New Yorker until you’ve been soiled with NY Harbor benthic mud! (Photo credit: Mauricio González)
The 2018 Spring semester has been marked with numerous accomplishments. On 19 May, 6 MBRP research scholars embarked on an expedition up the Harlem/East River to retrieve a 2 year-old ecological experiment. Led by our senior project manager Nicholas Ring, this expedition put a close to Phase Two of the CIVITAS-New York Harbor School project to determine the baseline conditions of the Harlem/East River and to test different construction materials for their effect on marine biodiversity. Water was spraying us from all directions as we pulled up nine 40+ pound experimental units onto the Indy 7 from the river. The rain above and the muddy waters from below tried slowing us down but we pulled together as a team of marine scientists and maritime crew to finish ahead of schedule. A million thanks to the Indy 7 Captain Kirsten Johnsrud, First Mate Halcyon Spooner, and their young crew for your invaluable help and leadership. Equal thanks to our Harbor Class instructor Sean Lynch for stepping up to lead the crew. For PHASE TWO results click here.
7th Annual Marine Science Symposium at the New York Harbor School, May 16, 2018. (Art by Gryffen Snyder-Shane)
On May 16 the New York Harbor School hosted its 7th Annual Marine Science Symposium. We had over 50 projects on display and over 60 volunteers from various industry & post-secondary institutions, not to mention our guests from the Netherlands led by Marc Van Breukelen to help judge. The theme this year was Godzilla- fictional character and product of the unbridled marine contamination that ensued after World War II. Godzilla came to represent nature rising to warn humanity of the perils of altering the Earth’s delicate balance. During the symposium we also introduced a new award called the MBRP Trident Award of Excellence. This award is given to a MBRP scholar that has accomplished all three of the following feats: 01) has earned all the possible college credits offered by the MBRP, 02) has competed in the NYC Science and Engineering Fair or obtained GIS SPACE certification, and 03) has assumed a leadership position in the Harbor SEALs Citizen Science after school team. Two MBRP alumni have accomplished these ambitious feats and were bestowed with this honor: Cezanne Bies (class ’16) and Melanie Smith (class ’17). Thanks to our former CIVITAS Project Manager Maura Smotrich for delivering a beautiful keynote address. To view the Symposium Booklet with the complete list of volunteers, senior autobiographies, project titles, and Symposium results click here.
Marine Science Symposium volunteers from the Netherland’s Windesheim School, led by Marc Van Breukelen. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)Final presentation of the CIVITAS/NY Harbor School project on May 16 at the Hudson River Foundation. The presentation was led by our senior project managers Nicholas Ring & Nailea Rodriguez as well as our senior data analyst Matthew Chiu and benthic captain Marcus Charles. Present at the meeting were Jim Lodge from the Hudson River Foundation, Maura Smotrich from City of White Plains, Daniella Davi from CIVITAS, Alexander Adams from CIVITAS, James MacDonald from the Department of Environmental Conservation, Jim Tripp from Environmental Defense Fund & CIVITAS, and Matthew Haiken from Billion Oyster Project. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)
Back in the lab, our young marine scholars have been hard at work. Our junior scholar Aaniyla Allen-Sutherland has been monitoring the health of our Harbor waters by testing for Entrococcus faecalis. Our junior research scholar Lauren Salitan has been testing the effects of chlorine concentrations on the survivor-ship of oyster larvae. And our freshmen and sophomore scholars have attempted to bar-code marine invertebrates for the first time at our lab on Governors Island.
Junior scholar Aaniyla Allen-Sutherland displaying IDEXX Enterolert trays that she uses to monitor the Harbor. (Photo credit: Elizabeth Burmester)Junior research scholar Lauren Salitan and mentor, Elizabeth Burmester, PhD, work on an experiment testing the effects of chlorine on oyster larvae. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)Gel electrophoresis run by our freshmen and sophomore research scholars Lisette Mejia, Destiny Coley, Brian Mejia, Gabriel Castro, and Jasmine Mendoza. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)Urban Bar-code Symposium sponsored by Cold Spring Harbor Labs. Our young scholars presented at the symposium on May 24, 2018. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)
Some of the best moments of the school year are when alumni visit. They’ve come for our SEALs-giving dinner, Marine Symposium, and just randomly throughout the year. Below are photographs of just some of the many alumni who’ve stopped in this year.
Gracie Carter, (Photo credit: Nicholas Ring)Averille Ramos. We retired his # 17 SEALs jersey. (Photo credit: Jacqueline Obermayer)Nicolle Martinez. (Photo credit: Anita Morawski)Pablo Jimenez and Zain Bin Khalid. (Photo credit: Anita Morawski)Marcus Charles & Cézanne Bies. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)Violeta Gonzalez and Ahyrton Vasquez. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)Pierre Landet and Orlando Ramos. (Photo credit: Anita Morawski)Jared Rosin, Mondragon, Katha Conklin, Kaila Scott, Mariah Gathers, and Melanie Smith. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)
To have a little fun, our Harbor SEALs scholars participated in the CIVITAS annual benefit. They presented their monitoring results of the Harlem/East River to residents and politicians from all over NYC at the House of the Redeemer by Central Park.
Harbor SEALs Citizen Science team at the CIVITAS annual benefit. (Photo credit: Mauricio González)
And after many years of sacrifice, hard work, and grit, Mauricio Gonzalez wins the Big Apple Award for 2018! Next school year as a Big Apple Fellow, he’ll be convening with school officials to share and learn best practices.
Mauricio González, 2018 NYC Big Apple Award recipient, presented by the DOE Deputy Chancellor, Phil Weinberg. (Photo credit: NYC DOE)
WE WIN AT NYCSEF! Harbor school seniors Nicholas Ring & Nailea Rodriguez win Second Prize while Matthew Chiu wins Third Prize in addition to three special elite awards. Special thanks goes out to Maura Smotrich, Rachael Miller, and Captain Michael Abegg for believing in us. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the support of CIVITAS Citizens, the Rozalia Project, BOP, and our wonderful team of Harbor SEALs Citizen Scientists! (Photo by M. Gonzalez)
The 2017-2018 winter season has been busy as usual for the Marine Biology Research Program and Harbor SEALs Citizen Science Monitoring scholars. Below we put together a sample of some of the activities we’ve been a part of during the 2017-2018 winter season. Thanks again to our industry and post-secondary partners for your continued support. Please mark your calendars: on May 16 the New York Harbor School will be hosting our 7th Marine Science Symposium. More information will be forthcoming. We hope to see you there. Enjoy the images!!!
Nailea Rodriguez, senior MBRP scholar, presenting at the NY Blue Tech consortium during World Water Day, March 22, 2018. (Photo by Nynke de Vette, Netherlands Consulate)Here our Harbor SEALs younglings Destiny Coley, Lisette Mejia, Brian Mejia, Gabriel Castro, Jasmine Mendoza, and Tiffany Vu get ready to genetically barcode marine invertebrates as part of a collaborative project involving partners CIVITAS Citizens, BOP, Cold Spring Harbor’s Urban Barcode Program, and New York Harbor School’s Harbor SEALs Citizen Science monitoring team. Thanks to our other partners at ConEdison and a “RESO-A” grant through which we were able to obtain many of the materials for this important project. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)This year our scholars will complete phase two of the CIVITAS-NYHS East River Esplanade baseline study. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Next, with over half a million students in NYC public and private high schools, five-hundred fifty that are selected to compete at the New York City Science and Engineering Fair, to just over one hundred that make it to the finals, the Marine Biology Research Program had three scholars selected for for this honor in the category of Environmental Science. In total we had a School record breaking high of six students who competed this year at the Preliminary Round. Left to right: Marcus Charles, Nicholas Ring, Matthew Chiu, and Nailea Rodriguez (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Senior MBRP scholars Isabella Torres and Seth Rivera present their project on shark diet at the Preliminary Round of the NYC Science and Engineering Fair on March 4, 2018. Considering that the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School is an un-screened school and that we’re going up against the most selective public and private schools in the city (i.e. Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Townsend Harris, etc.) this accomplishment is impressive, to say the least. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Chris Bell and Nicholas Ring, Senior MBRP scholars, present their projects at the Preliminary Round of NYCSEF, March 04, 2018. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Our Harbor SEALs scholars train in invertebrate zoology as part of the Advanced Marine Biology course offered at the New York Harbor school. Taught by Instructor Mauricio Gonzalez, M.Sc. in collaboration with SUNY Stony Brook, students earn 3 college credits upon successful completion. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Senior marine research scholars Chris Bell, Matthew Chiu, and Isabella Torres dissect a squid to better understand the anatomy and evolutionary relationship of marine invertebrates. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Econcrete discs were poured by Marine Biology Research & Harbor SEALs scholars. The discs were then placed in the Harlem River to determine if biodiversity can be attracted with the proper construction materials. (Photo by N. Ring)Nicholas Ring presents his project to the Harbor SEALs younglings to set the level of excellence expected of those coming up in the MBRP.Mike McCann from The Nature Conservancy and Liz Burmester from the Billion Oyster Project lead a workshop on water quality sampling for the Harbor SEALs Citizen Science team. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)Matthew Chiu shows off his hats made of up-cycled microplastic fibers derived from laundry machines and dryers.Sean Lynch, Harbor School Instructor, has been a key partner for the Harbor SEALs and will begin supporting our physical-chemistry team. (Photo by M. Gonzalez)MBRP and Harbor SEALs director, Mauricio Gonzalez, has advanced to the finals in the prestigious NYC Big Apple Awards. Up to five finalists were named per district – roughly 250 across the city out of more than 4,500 teachers nominated this fall. The final 15 winners will be announced in the coming week.
Cindy Isidoro, class of ’17 and Team Benthos mentor (Photo Credit: Van Wong).
The 2016-2017 school year has been one of the most successful for the students of the Marine Biology Research Program. This year our scholars completed phase one of the CIVITAS-NYHS East River Esplanade baseline study. To see our students in action click here. Next, with over half a million students in NYC high schools, five-hundred fifty that apply to compete at the New York City Science and Engineering Fair, to just over one hundred that make it to the finals, the Marine Biology Research Program had two scholars selected for the Second Award in the category of Environmental Science. In total we had a School record breaking high of five students who competed this year.
NYCSEF 2nd Award Winners Grace Carter and Jared Rosin.
Considering that the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School is an un-screened school and that we’re going up against the top screened public science and private schools in the city (i.e. Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Townsend Harris, etc.) this accomplishment is impressive to say the least. Four out of the five that competed were female which are all planning on pursuing a career in STEM; one was an ex-English Language Learner; and one had an Individualized Education Plan. This is testament to what can happen with dedication, team work, and, most importantly, believing that all students can excel when given the opportunity and the right environment.
2017 NYCSEF Award Winners Grace Carter, Melanie Smith (Erik Wiemer standing in), Jared Rosin, Cindy Isidoro, and Katha Conklin.
One of the most important objectives of the Marine Biology Research Program is to empower students to make a difference in their communities through the research they complete over a three year period. This year they were the stars of the CIVITAS Citizens benefit where philanthropists donated thousands of dollars to the cause of improving the Upper East and East Harlem neighborhoods during their annual benefit at Sothebys on the Upper East Side, NYC.
Project Officers were the stars of the show at the 2017 CIVITAS Citizens benefit at Sothebys.
ConEdison continues to be one of our most active Professional Advisory Committee members. This semester they carried out a Career Management workshop where several of their star employees came to speak to our students about career readiness and opportunites at their company. They spoke about how many companies are willing to train students and even help to pay for their continuing education who meet a minimum of Transferable skills (i.e. team work, timeliness, problem solving), basic tool handling skills (i.e. knowing the difference between a Phillips and flat head screw driver to basic arithmetic and algebra), and who pass a basic entry level assessment.
Industry partners ConEdison visit our scholars for a career development workshop. Among those attending from ConEd were Michael Porto & Michael, Kessler.
Career readiness also requires a workforce that knows and fights for their rights. On April 22nd, our scholars planned a trip to Washington DC to march for Science. In today’s political climate where critical scientific evidence for climate change is being deleted from Federal databases and websites, our scholars weathered the rain with signs in hand and marched in front of the Washington Monument and the White House.
On April 22nd MBRP scholars marched on Washington to protest the current administration’s deleting of scientific evidence on climate change reminiscent of the 1933 Nazi public burning of literature that went against the extreme nationalist ideology of the regime.
Our after school Citizen Science team, the NYHS Harbor SEALs, has been hard at work monitoring the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Most of the research that comes out of our lab is made possible by the effort and dedication of these young scholars. Typically composed of sophomores through seniors, this year we had a strong representation of freshmen who were stellar. Jacqueline Obermayer worked with 10th grade research scholar Cyd Bloomfield using genetic barcoding techniques to determine the species richness of Buttermilk Channel. Jonah Florholmen Boum was an integral part of Team Phys-Chem and is a candidate for our Data Analyst position next school year. Maddie Dominguez has also been an integral part of Team Phys-Chem.
2017 NYHS Harbor SEALs Citizen Science Team
Last week, May 17, we celebrated our 6th Annual Marine Science Symposium at the New York Harbor School. We had over 45 projects on display and over 30 volunteers from various industry and post-secondary institutions help judge. The highlight this year was the large number of volunteers who were former NYHS-MBRP alumni. Click here to view the Symposium Booklet with the complete list of volunteers, senior autobiographies, project titles, and Symposium results. Go New York Harbor School Marine Science!
You’re cordially invited to attend our 5th Annual Marine Science Symposium at the New York Harbor School on May 18 starting at 12pm. Experience cutting edge science from our very own Marine Biology Research Scholars and our special guest Mr. Charlie Fitzpatrick, ESRI Schools Program Manager. Mr. Fitzpatrick will be sharing his journey through the exciting world of Geospatial technology. Also presenting are this year’s NYC Science and Engineering Fair participants and finalists including Cezanne Bies and Zain Bin Khalid who received the third award among NYC’s top science scholars for their project on oyster restoration. Go New York Harbor School science!
It’s not often that a young scholar passes through the public school system in New York with all the qualities of a true scientist: organized yet willing to take risks, diligent yet creative, attentive to detail yet an eye on the big picture, and, most importantly, not deterred by set-backs. Remarkable is the word that comes to mind when reviewing all of Cézanne Bies’, class of ’16, accomplishments and attributes in the past three years at the Marine Biology Research Program (MBRP). Cézanne was a finalist in the 2016 NYC Science and Engineering Fair together with her project partner Zain Bin Khalid for their project Survival and Growth Performance of Crassostrea virginica in the NYC Harbor, the first scholar to earn 12 SUNY college credits for science research at the New York Harbor School (NYHS), and helped to launch the marine genetics program there too, just to name a few.
Cézanne Bies teaching her phys-chem team how to perform the Winkler Method to measure the dissolved oxygen of the Harlem River.
Whether collecting physical-chemistry samples from the Hudson River Estuary, planting eel grass at Bush Terminal Piers park, organizing and analyzing Harbor SEALs project data, or extracting oyster DNA, Cézanne is always at the center of the action. Cézanne’s dedication and leadership has truly elevated the level of science at the NYHS and particularly the MBRP.
Cézanne Bies extracting eastern oyster DNA to test for genetic differences between farmed and wild oysters.
Early on in the 10th grade, Cézanne showed great promise as a budding scientist by constructing the 1st place winning wind racer with project partner Raphael Bonnano and in the 11th grade Cézanne won 1st place with the project Determining the Genetic Difference between Farmed and Wild Oysters. Cézanne’s unique curiosity and problem solving skills have been essential to running the Marine Science lab.
Cézanne Bies and Orlando Ramos planting eel grass at Bush Terminal Piers Park, Brooklyn.
Aside from these accomplishments, Cézanne is a frequent contributor to the school newspaper, The Harbor Current, an intern with Earth Matter organizing the NYHS biomass production to create compost, an integral member of the Gay-Straight Alliance, and an editor of the NYHS year book. Cezanne intends to pursue a degree in marine restoration genetics. We wish Cézanne all the best in the years to come.
Cézanne Bies and Zain Khalid in the 2016 NYCSEF competition. They were recognized by NOAA and the RICOH Company for the best project in ocean sustainability and restoration science.
Team MBRP Cezanne Bies and Zain Bin Khalid swimming circles around NYC’s brightest on March 6’s NYC Science and Engineering Fair. (Photo credit: Ms. Woodhouse, MBRP mom)
This was a big week for Marine Biology Research Scholars. On March 6 four of our advanced marine research scholars presented at the NYC Science and Engineering Fair. Competing with over four hundred of the City’s brightest science scholars, Cezanne Bies, Zain Bin Khalid, Marc Jimenez, and Luca Goldmansour showcased their long term research projects to judges from NYC’s top research institutions.
Advanced marine science scholar Luca Goldmansour, class of ’16.Advanced marine science scholar Marc Jimenez, class of ’16.
On Friday, March 4th, four of our intermediate research scholars presented their research to their partners CIVITAS, the Hudson River Foundation, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Led by Melanie Smith (Project Manager) and team members Grace Carter (biodiversity team leader), Katha Conklin (plankton team leader), and Cindy Isidoro (benthos team leader) they successfully presented the project’s final Quality Assurance Project Plan for approval.
Left to right: Jameson Mitchell, Maura Smotrich, Cindy Isidoro, Katha Conklin, Grace Carter, Susan Maresca, Melanie Smith, Mauricio Gonzalez, Kate Boicourt, Jim Tripp. (Photo credit: Maura Smotrich, CIVITAS)
And finally, on Monday, February 29, the Department of Education’s Office of Post Secondary Readiness recognized our Professional Advisory Committee member Captain and Scientist Matthew Leahey from NGO Seasavers and the Coast Guard Auxiliary with a plaque of recognition for his outstanding support of the Harbor School and the Marine Biology Research Program specifically. Captain Leahey got our team started on monitoring plastics in the NY Harbor before any other organization on the City was doing so. He led the MBRP on multiple expeditions aboard his vessel, the Nomad. He also custom built a manta tow to perform the sampling at the Verrazano narrows. When not on the water, he was leading workshops at our lab on water resources, plastics contamination, and the difficulty of environmental measurements for monitoring. We’d like to thank all our Professional Advisory Committee members and partners for making all these accomplishments possible. And a special thank you goes out to Captain Leahey for his amazing dedication to our future scientists and our city at large. Go Harbor School Science!
Captain and Scientist Matthew Leahey with our Harbor scholars preparing for a plankton tow.
You’re cordially invited to attend our 4th annual Science Symposium at the New York Harbor School on May 13 starting at 12pm. Experience cutting edge science from our very own Marine Biology Research Scholars and our special guest Dr. Michael Judge, Biology chairperson at Manhattan College. Dr. Judge will be sharing his journey to a science career and talk about his latest research in gastropod community ecology. Also presenting are our first and second place winners at the NYC Science and Engineering Fair, Nicolle Martinez and Tahirah Abdo. Go New York Harbor School science!
Marine Biology Research scholars Nicolle and Tahirah
Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Work-Based Learning at the New York Harbor School has just raised the bar! Marine Biology Research (MBRP) scholars Nicolle Martinez and Tahirah Abdo will be graduating with 8 SUNY Albany research college credits, a CTE technical endorsement in Natural Resources Management, first and second awards at the NYC Science and Engineering Fair, and attend Ivy league and top colleges with full scholarships! This is testimony to both team work, as their projects were supported by the whole MBRP team, and their own personal leadership and ambition. In total, our MBRP senior scholars have received to-date over USD 500, 000 in scholarships, have participated in internships around the city, presented at regional and national conferences, and worked with leading marine scientists to complete their research – all while leading research efforts to find solutions for the restoration of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Thank you to all our Professional Advisory Committee members, University & Industry Partners, the NY Harbor School Staff, the NY Harbor Foundation, and family members for all your support!
Finals Round at the American Museum of Natural History
