Chemistry
Dr. Lee Newman, chair
The Department of Chemistry is pleased to have two new faculty members on board this year – Dr. Nicholas Pflug and Dr. Leanne C. Powers, who arrived at ESF as assistant professors in the fall of 2021. We are excited about having these two scholars join the department and expand our research in environmental chemistry.
After earning his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Iowa in 2017, Pflug did postdoctoral work in environmental chemistry at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He is interested in understanding the way humans affect the natural world, with a focus on exploring the fate of organic chemicals in natural and engineered water systems. His lab uses a variety of research methods from environmental chemistry, natural products chemistry and organic synthesis to address the challenges of water contamination and its effects on human and ecosystem health. His research team also works to fill knowledge gaps in key biophysicochemical processes of organic compounds in water.
Powers earned her bachelor’s degree from Colby College before moving on to the University of Georgia to obtain her Ph.D. in marine science. Before joining ESF, she served as a postdoctoral research assistant with the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography from 2015 to 2016 and as an assistant research scientist at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory from 2016 to 2021. Her research is broadly aimed at understanding the fate and reactivity of dissolved organic matter/carbon (DOM) in the ocean, with a particular focus on improving quantitative under- standing of photochemical DOM cycling by sunlight.
The department will expand its outreach activity this coming summer with a research display at the Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse. The exhibit will focus on Dr. Mark Teece’s study of water quality and infrastructure issues in the canal, which in 2017 celebrated the bicentennial of the start of construction. The Department of Chemistry has a long history of public service at ESF, with projects ranging from global issues such as harmful algal blooms to projects such as Teece’s work with the canal, which touches on economic development and recreation in New York state. Stay tuned for details about when you can stop at the museum to see this don’t-miss exhibit.
Chemical Engineering
Dr. Bandaru Ramarao, chair
As the Department of Chemical Engineering comes back from pandemic-induced virtual operation to more in-person interactions on campus, we have some exciting new developments to share.
Our new B.S. in chemical engineering has been established. We are accepting students for the program and we are encouraged by the interest we see from both new students and those already enrolled who are interested in dual majors.
The department is participating in the New York State Center for Sustainable Materials Management at ESF. A project led by Professors Shijie Liu, Chang Geun Yoo, Deepak Kumar and myself is focused on upgrading and converting waste fibers in the solid waste streams into value-added biodegradable and biorenewable polymers.
Environmental Biology
Dr. Melissa Fierke, chair
The Department of Environmental Biology looks forward to welcoming new staff and faculty members to enhance our students’ experiences and learning opportunities. In the fall of 2021, we began a search for a quantitative wildlife ecologist, so that process is well underway. In the coming year, we expect to hire two academic advisors; they will be the first advisors to serve solely students in our department, and one of them will also be the business manager for the Cranberry Lake Biological Station (CLBS). The CLBS staff will also welcome a new instructor/academic program coordinator and a stream ecologist who will take over as station director. In addition, the department plans to hire a collections manager, a forest pathologist, and an Indigenous environmental scientist.
Building on the momentum of some recent space renovations (including enhanced facilities for the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and the Terrestrial Ecology Research Area lab), we started the year by updating and refreshing the department office. The goal was to install a kitchenette/break area to better serve our support staff and give faculty, staff and graduate students more opportunity to interact and collaborate.
In addition to hiring new faculty and staff who will enrich the academic experience at CLBS, we hope to invest in multiple capital projects at the bio station. On the drawing board are a new motor/ transmission to resurrect the beloved Forester, which has played a critical role in transporting students and equipment to the station; renovations to the 12 student cabins; reroofing other buildings (some of the roofs have lasted far longer than expected); and investing in green initiatives so we can “walk the talk” of sustainability.
Environmental Resources Engineering
Dr. Lindi Quackenbush ’88, chair
The collaborative nature of the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) will be at the forefront of what we do in 2022. Our department works with colleagues from other disciplines, including biologists, chemists, engineers from other specialty areas, and other experts from across the academic world. Together, we can find solutions we would not find on our own. As an example, we look to Dr. Wendong Tao’s commercialization of ESF’s U.S. patent related to nutrient recovery from wastewater. Recent Ph.D. graduate Fred Agyeman ’13 is establishing a startup to pursue commercialization of the technology. We also see this collaborative approach in Dr. Tim Morin’s research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, into how methane gets created in wetland soils.
One of the ways we have an impact beyond campus is through our work in professional events. Dr. Steve Shaw was appointed as a co-chair for the water resources chapter of the upcoming New York State Climate Impact Assessment. The climate assessment is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and seeks to compile, synthesize, and communicate information on ongoing and future effects of climate change in New York with the involvement of a team of experts and stakeholders. Dr. Bahram Salehi is coordinating the STRATUS (Systems and Technologies for Remote Sensing Applications Through Unmanned Aerial Systems) 2022 Conference that will be hosted by ESF in May.
We are also looking forward to continuing to work with our outstanding students, who make us proud every day. We are delighted to share the news that three of our students recently received recognition from organizations beyond our campus. Katherine Gannon received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Scholarship sponsored by the American Association of University Women Naperville Area Branch; Andrea Ross ’21, who just graduated with her M.P.S., received the Southeast Diamond Scholar- ship from the Society of Women Engineers; and Samantha Hollister received a scholarship from the New York Water Environment Association.
Environmental Studies
Dr. Theresa Selfa, chair
The Department of Environmental Studies is excited to offer a new undergrad major, Environmental Education and Interpretation, which migrated from the Department of Environmental Biology. We are redesigning the curriculum, creating new courses and are working to attract new students. We also plan to begin developing a graduate program in Environmental Education and Interpretation in the near future.
The department’s three online graduate certificate programs have been approved and are now being offered: Environmental Leadership, Environmental Justice, and Environmental Communication and Public Relations Management. These three certificates together will comprise an online Master of Professional Studies degree. Development of these online certificates is providing opportunities to attract new graduate students, including working professionals, to ESF.
The department is developing a new partnership with Syracuse University School of Education to establish a 4+1 B.S. and M.S. in science teaching.
Division of Environmental Science
Dr. Russell Briggs ’75,’ 79, ’82, ’85, director
The Division of Environmental Science is excited about its continually evolving approach to the required senior synthesis. Instead of focusing entirely on a research project as in years past, students now have opportunities to incorporate an internship that adds professional experience to their portfolio, or take a series of related courses, such as limnology, that emphasize a broad range of field skills. Either approach can be weaved into the senior synthesis capstone. The division also looks forward to building more connections between students and ESF alumni through its new Alumni Challenge, developed by division Curriculum Coordinator Ann Moore ’96. The program pairs alumni who are affiliated with employers such as governmental agencies and engineering firms with undergraduates on a project that typically focuses on watershed themes. The alumni share their valuable — and practical — professional skills with students who are soon to enter the workplace or graduate school.
The division houses ESF’s growing environmental health (EH) program, the only accredited program of its kind in the Northeast. The program, headed by Dr. Lee Newman and recently reaccredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council, is developing an Environmental Health Club to provide a conduit for connecting ESF alumni with students in the field. The goal is to establish a group of alumni who can provide resources about internships and professional contacts for the benefit of environ- mental health students.
The environmental health program is also build- ing a program to increase awareness of all it offers while, at the same time, recruit students. Although EH is a growing program, most students migrate into it after they arrive at ESF rather than enrolling as first-year students. Newman is working with the ESF Open Academy to develop a new ESF in the High School course, focused on environmental health, that would engage high school juniors in a yearlong course and position them to apply to ESF as prospective EH majors during their senior year.
Landscape Architecture
Dr. Douglas Johnston ’80, chair
The Department of Landscape Architecture is pleased to be launching a graduate online certificate program in Visual Resource Stewardship. The program is a response to the increasing priority on green energy production, which can have significant impacts on the landscape because of production and transmission infrastructure. The department, which provided leadership in this area during the environmental awakening in the 1970s and beyond, will train students and professionals in assessment and management of impacts, and the design and advocacy of alternatives. The program (if approved) will build on recent and current research on off-shore wind turbine visual impacts, property management by landowners in New York state, and visualization and simulation research conducted by faculty and students in the department.
One of our goals for 2022 is to increase advocacy and design for inclusive environments, particularly in urban areas. Students are working with faculty mentorship in confronting major challenges to the quality of our environment. For example, Alexandrea Samoray’s capstone project centers on coming to terms with the impacts of youth gun violence in Syracuse’s neighborhoods. Specifically, she is working with several local organizations and community members to engage in a process of creating spaces for community memorials to the victims of gun violence. This complex territory recognizes that victims of violence are not only those who are physically wounded or killed but families, friends and the community at large. By working with community members she is developing a process that might be replicable in other communities. Laura Seib, as a mother of younger children and a concerned citizen-design professional is examining the provision of healthy and safe outdoor environments, particularly for children, in urban centers. She is working in collaboration with the Syracuse planning division to study connectivity and the creation of improved pedestrian environments.
Finally, we look forward to returning to our home in Marshall Hall when that project is complete. The renewed Marshall Hall provides the department with much-needed visibility on the ESF campus, provides up-to-date environments for fabrication and production, greater opportunities for collaborative workspace, and a much more integrated studio environment allowing for more interaction among students at different levels in the program. While completely modern in its accessibility, technology, energy, and other environmental systems, the renovation also restores long-lost skylights, the open circular staircase, and other features that have distinguished Marshall Hall since its construction in the 1930s.
The Ranger School
Dr. Mariann Johnston, director
2022 will be a big year as the Ranger School (RS) celebrates the 110th anniversary of its founding in 1912. (For a look back at the history of the RS and its Wanakena Campus, visit www.esf.edu/insideesf/documents/2011.pdf and read the story on Page 30). The Ranger School Alumni Association plans a big reunion this summer, with special emphasis on celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classes of 1970, 1971 and 1972.
The RS looks forward to celebrating its largest graduating class in more than 30 years this spring. Sixty-four students lived and took classes at the Ranger School through the fall semester, including 30 enrolled in the Environmental and Natural Resources Conservation program, the largest number in the program’s 10-year history.
The Ranger School is excited to host the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Forest Ranger Academy starting in May 2022. This is the first time that ESF will host this training event. The 2022 class will spend 11 weeks at the Wanakena campus, and will complete their training at ESF’s Newcomb campus, with graduation anticipated in November 2022. This collaboration recognizes and celebrates a long history of ESF Ranger School graduates joining the DEC Forest Rangers. Since 1946, 163 ESF Ranger School graduates have been appointed to the DEC Forest Ranger force, including current Forest Ranger Director John Solan, a 1991 alumnus.
Sustainable Resources Management
Dr. Christopher Nowak ’79, ’85, ’86, ’93, chair
In the summer of 2022, the Department of Sustainable Resources Management (SRM) will offer its graduate students and emeriti faculty refreshed space on the fourth floor of Bray Hall. A $2 million capital project on the top floor of the College’s oldest building involves fitting the space with a new heating, ventilation and air condition- ing system. The fourth floor provides office space for the department’s 60 graduate students, emeriti and visiting faculty; there is also potential collaboration space for projects with new institutes or partner organizations. Upgrades include improved skylights, better temperature control and the flow of more natural light into the building.
The Construction Management program, which is housed within SRM, is awaiting a site visit this spring from the American Council of Construction Education (ACCE). The goal is for the program to receive ACCE accreditation later this year. The effort has been under consideration for many years and it is exciting that it’s happening now. Dr. Paul Crovella led several colleagues through a self-study that examines topics such as quality management, planning and resource accountability. As part of the reaccreditation process, Crovella worked with the Office of Communications and Marketing to upgrade the department’s Construction Management website.
Drs. Crovella, Tim Volk ’02, Colin Beier, Tristan Brown and Robert Malmsheimer ’86 are leading work that emphasizes SRM’s work in responding to climate change. Much of the department’s future effort is going to be in the climate change and carbon policy and management arenas. This is a renewed commitment that will build on work done by SRM faculty members in the past. Crovella is a leader in mass timber; Volk is leading the development of a certificate in climate and sustainability leadership; Beier directs the Climate and Applied Forest Research Institute that recently received $1 million in new funding for its work on sharing science-based data with policy makers; Brown leads the new Bioeconomy Development Institute; and Brown and Malmsheimer are involved in positioning ESF as a leader in responding to the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which set targets for reducing emissions and increasing the use of renewable resources over the next 30 years. All of these efforts will enable SRM and ESF to help New York state develop and implement policies and procedures that allow it to achieve its carbon neutral goals.