York, Community Unite for Hands-On Environmental Science Journey

A group of students, faculty, and Southeast Queens residents recently traveled from the York College campus to the waterfront campus of Kingsborough Community College (KCC) in the Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn to set sail in the Research Vessel CUNY1 on Jamaica Bay, and to explore a part of the Hudson Raritan Estuary system.

The environmental science excursion, held on April 29 and organized by Dr. Dawn Roberts-Semple, featured a range of engaging onshore and offshore hands-on activities facilitated by BioBoat—a nonprofit dedicated to environmental education with a focus on marine science for students and communities across New York City.

The group was divided to rotate activities on land and on the water's surface, allowing everyone to participate in each round of interactive research and discovery fully. Participants on the research vessel were engaged in real-time aquatic sampling by using a manta trawl net to collect micro-organisms and floating debris from the surface of the urban waterway. The water samples were collected along specific transects of the bay as students mapped latitude and longitude coordinates. They studied the physical properties of water, such as temperature and pH, that affect the coastal embayment's water quality, used microscopes to analyze aquatic samples, and discussed the impacts of pollution on the marine ecosystem.

While onshore, participants observed and discussed the impacts of waste products polluting the aquatic environment, particularly microplastics that threaten various lifeforms in the river system. They examined micro-organisms such as phytoplankton and bacteria under microscopes and discussed the role of macro-organisms such as jellyfish and horseshoe crabs in the aquatic food web. Simultaneously, students collected samples of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) using the AirBeam Mini, a portable handheld device for monitoring and comparing air quality in two different environments in Queens and Manhattan.

The trip brought together faculty and students from multiple disciplines and institutions, including York College—Dr. Yonghong McDowell and her mathematics class; Professor Jamelia Jordan and her Environmental Health Science (EHS) class; and Geology Professor Andrew Singh—as well as graduate students from the CUNY School of Public Health, CUNY City College, and the Eastern Queens Alliance Idlewild Park Environmental Science Center.

“We are very grateful to the residents of Southeast Queens, led by community leaders, Andrea Scarborough, Walter Dogan, and others, whose advocacy for cleaner air in their neighborhood made funds available for the excursion,”stated Dr. Roberts-Semple. “Through their collective effort and generosity, this trip provided a unique opportunity to integrate environmental science across disciplines and to engage the community in meaningful research that increased awareness of the need to protect our natural environment.”