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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