Last update :02/24/00 03:09:50 PM

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Curriculum Issues:

   Joellen Reveira has taught the Senior elective, Environmental Health for the first time this past term, and Ruth Bernard has taught the Junior Course, Environmetal Engineering I. This extends the expertise and versatility of our faculty so that the Major can expand wiht no loss in quality control.

We have entered into an agreement with the Bronx Zoo to allow our students to take a new Senior elective at the Zoo, namely, Wildlife Biology. This course will focus on exotics as they relate to the zoo setting, and will inculde topics such as animal behavior, nutrition, health issues, and exhibit design, among others. The course will be taught at the zoo two days a week, and will be taught by their most senior field biologist educator. The course will culminate in the final design project. We have nrolled our first six seniors this term, and we forsee it as a viable elective for the Environmental Seniors in either the Fall or Spring term.

Research and Internships:

We have committed to a tree census, soil survaey, and erosion study of Fort Greene Park under the direction and supervision of the Dept. Of Parks and their Park Manager, Mr. Todd Leavitt. We have already completed the first phase of the study of the Park, and our major was cited as "December Partners of the Month" by the Parks Department. This activity will continue this Spring under the direction of student team members.

Junior classes will continue to monitor water quality in the Gowanus Canal this Spring as part of the lab activities associated with the Environmental Engineering II Course. As before, data acquired will be forwarded to the NYC Dept. Of Environmental Protection for the ongoing study on the continued improvement of the quality of the canal, and the return of marine life to the canal. It is my understanding that the Tech Environmental Major is the only organization taking this type of continues data, and our database now extends back three years.

Junior classes will also sample air quality in and around Tech this Spring after the AP Environmental Science Exam. This will be a new lab activity for us. Over the last four years we have added at least one major lab activity per year. A major lab activity is one in which students take real world data to analyze a local environmental problem. Such activities usually take several weeks to complete, and use professional methods to acquire real world data that is used not only for the students' own analysis, but also for the database and analysis of the appropriate agency.

Senior classes will resume mapping the Fort Greene neighborhood under the sponsorship of the Green Map Organization and their Mr. Robert Zuber. This is work that was begun last year by the Class of '99, and eventually the map will be published along with other Green Maps produced by other students in cities around the world. This activity has become an integral part of the Spring Senior course in Urban Planning and Policy, and helps the students analyze and compare the fundamentals of good Urban Planning with what is actually in place in the field.

We have placed five students with Brooklyn Botanic Garden last Summer and Fall in their Metropolitan Floral Project where they performed rather impressive independent research on local plants and their place in the local ecosystem. I can provide copies of their research on request.

We have placed several students with the Hudson River Project where they have performed research on biodiversity in the New York Estuary.

We have some Environmental interns with the Children's Museum of Manhattan as Green Teams who will work with young children visitors to the museum.

We hope to place another ten juniors with NYC DEP this summer. Last year our interns were assigned to waste water treatment plants around the city, where they became familiar with plant and water quality lab operations, thus putting into practice what they learned in class. Three years ago, such internships were almost always staffed by college students, now Tech Enviro Majors get these plums, relegating the college students to routine office work.

We have received a commitment from Prof. John Waud of Rochester Institute of Technology to place 10 juniors from our major in a summer program at RIT. Our students will be pared with 10 high school students from urban Rochester for advance studies in Environmental Science.

The Envirothon:

Our major will field at least one team, but likely two in the Envirothon again this year, where we hope to repeat our victories over the last two years in the Kings County Competition. In the last year's NYC Envirothon competition, Tech beat out teams from both Science and Stuyvesant. As you recall, the Envirothon is a national Environmental contest similar to the College Bowl where teams from various high schools compete on the local, state, and national level. The NYC Envirothon will be held on Friday April 14, at Alley Pond Environmental Center.

Metrotech Urban Landscaping Competition:

We will once again conpete in this competition that is sponsored by the NY Horticultural Society and the Metrotech BID. In this competition, student teams design and build their own urban houses to scale, and then landscape them in place in Metrotech Plaza. Tech has one first place honors the past two years, and Senior Jasmine Lowther, last year's first place winner, is planning to enter this competition again. In all, our major is projected to have 5 entries. The competition will take place at the Metrotech Plaza during the week of May 15.

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