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Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development

• For several decades NYSG’s “Teach the Teacher” training sessions have allowed hundreds of NY’s teachers to experience hands-on science aboard NOAA’s Great Lakes research vessels where they learned about the ecosystem, water quality and the effects of aquatic invasive species on the Great Lakes. Teachers then took this innovative curriculum back to thousands of their students.

• Administered by NYSG and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NY’s Great Lakes Ecosystem Education Exchange (NYGLEEE) partnered with educators in NY’s Great Lakes watershed, providing materials and curricula for hands-on classroom and field experiences. Its goal is to ensure the next generation is prepared to make sound decisions about Great Lakes water quality, natural resources and social impacts and to encourage K-12 students to become stewards of the watersheds in which they live.

• Through Sea Grant and its partners, over 800 students have attended Marine Camp, a day camp held at nature centers along Long Island’s south shore beaches that exposes youth from underserved communities to STEM career opportunities while creating experiences of a lifetime. Students practice wearing waders and using seine nets to capture marine fish. They observe coastal wildlife and local geological features on nature walks, use microscopes to identify plankton, and create artwork to reinforce what they’ve observed.

• The “Climate to Go” workshops for K-12 teachers from across NYC provided resources about climate science, climate action and mitigation strategies, as well as resilience; teachers created emergency preparedness “go-bags” for schools and families as recommended by NYC Emergency Management. Over 200 K-12 NY metro and mid-Hudson educators participating in the Visualizing Coastal Change project learned about climate change as they compared current and historic maps and photos of some 500 miles of NY coastal and estuarine environments including the Hudson Valley.

• NYSG works closely with Long Island Sound Study and partners, including the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, to develop citizen science research projects that allow students to learn about the problems facing Long Island Sound and ways to address those issues, while simultaneously collecting data that will be used by partner agencies.

• The Safety at Sea program educated hundreds of commercial fishermen on life-saving techniques including the use of immersion suits and control of vessel emergencies such as fire and engine failure. This program won commendation from the U.S. Coast Guard, a partner in the program.

• Via Sea Grant webinars, presentations, and the development of online mapping tools, state agencies and community-based organizations are learning about environmental justice that can help educate them about the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations and help these organizations plan programs more equitably.


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.