Bhubaneswar: A team from Bronx Community College (BCC) of The City University of New York (CUNY) visited Sri Sri University and XIM University in Bhubaneswar on September 22-24 as part of a U.S. Consulate-funded project to combat climate change. Led by Professor Neal Phillip, Chairperson of BCC Department of Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences and Professor Paramita Sen of the same Department, the Bronx Community College team is working with local counterparts to facilitate the installation of solar powered automatic weather stations that will also monitor air quality and soil moisture. Data received from the weather stations will be automatically shared with stakeholders through online and smartphone app platforms.
Professors Phillip and Sen have partnered with host universities and local high schools in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana to organize collective social learning and thematic communication workshops for exchange of knowledge on climate and climate change. Audiences of over 5,000 are expected to be directly impacted by the workshops. In addition, they will also demonstrate the use of novel equipment used to monitor climate and climate change and water quality. On September 25, they joined the Odisha Eco Tourism Foundation in Puri for a beach cleanup project.
Dr. Phillip noted: “We have a strong track record of working not only with India, but also with Spain and Australia on climate change and other sustainability issues. Our BCC and other CUNY students have made a significant contribution to this effort, and we could not have accomplished this without their efforts.”
Professor Sen added: “Through this diplomacy grant from the US State Department academic institutions of the United States and India are working in collaboration to battle the climate crisis the world is experiencing.”
Dr. Thomas A. Isekenegbe, President of Bronx Community College, who has accompanied the PIs said: “Bronx Community College is honored to receive this State Department Public Diplomacy Grant to further our work on climate change in India. With this grant BCC has become a global force on climate change and academic exchange. We congratulate Dr. Phillip and Professor Sen on this achievement.”
The CUNY CREST Institute is a long-time collaborating partner with BCC. On September 9, 2022 BCC and CUNY CREST Institute signed an MoU and held an inauguration ceremony to create the India Initiative for Research and Educational Collaborations of the CUNY CREST Institute, the first office of its kind focused solely on India in CUNY. CUNY Crest Executive Director, Dr Reza Khanbilvardi, Deputy Director, Dr Shakila Merchant and Senior Scientist, Dr Tarendra Lakhankar have accompanied the PIs to expand on CUNY’s collaborations in India.
Comments are closed.