Contacts: 

Lisa Rodriguez, Director Digital Media/Marketing, Long Island Explorium, E: lisa@longislandexplorium.org

Kathleen Fallon, New York Sea Grant's Coastal Processes & Hazards Specialist, P: 631-632-8730, E: kmf228@cornell.edu

Port Jefferson, NY, May 7, 2021 - The Long Island Explorium is one of 22 sites across the United States that have been accepted to receive a $2,000 stipend to implement a citizen science project focused on sea level rise.

Administered by the Museum of Science, Boston in partnership with Arizona State University and Northeastern University, the Citizen Science, Civics, and Resilient Communities Grant (CSCRC) grant project aims to facilitate conversations about climate hazards like sea level rise in the communities and to increase resilience to extreme weather and environmental hazards through citizen-created data, local knowledge, and community values. 

This project is supported by an Environmental Literacy grant by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation estimates that by the 2050s, sea levels on Long Island’s coast could be between eight to 30 inches higher. The goal of our project is to increase environmental literacy and awareness among participants on the impact of sea level rise on the myriad of issues to Long Island’s coastal groundwater system, coastal ecosystems, including flooding, erosion, barrier islands, the endangered species of beach nesting piping plover and seagrass beds,” explains Angeline Judex, MPA, Executive Director.

Participants will be part of a citizen science campaign to observe and record sea level rise in Port Jefferson Harbor. The campaign will be conducted in partnership with New York Sea Grant (NYSG).

“This campaign will contribute to our currently funded two-year grant related to monitoring shoreline flooding. We will be exploring various tools that citizen scientists can utilize for documenting the effects of sea level rise, specifically in regards to flooding and erosion,“ states Dr. Kathleen M. Fallon, Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist, NYSG. 

The citizen science campaign will run from May - June 2021. All interested participants can visit "Citizen Science at the Long Island Explorium".

More Info: Long Island Explorium

The Long Island Explorium is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit and is chartered with the New York State Department of Education.  Our vision is to be a leader in STEM discovery, learning and innovation that will shape the intellect, social values and principles of future generations. Our curriculum, exhibits and educational approach are unique by design, developed to spark inventive solutions, build confidence by embracing the “fail forward” concept and foster teamwork. We are recognized as Long Island’s Family Maker Space. To learn more, visit www.longislandexplorium.org.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.