News and Events
October 2012
Results of a pilot study on lead in chicken egg at Environmental Sciences Analytical Center were reported in a New York Times article “High Lead Found in City-Sourced Eggs.” To see the full article, click here.
June 2012
Dr. Cheng’s research on the use of effective microbes for food waste composting was reported in an Associated Press article “Japanese Composting May be New Food Waste Solution.” The article was picked up by many news media such as ABC News, Huntington Post. To see the full article, click here.
June 2012
Congratulations to Tatiana Morina and Jack Lin, both MS graduate students at Brooklyn College Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, for winning the 2012 New York City Brownfield Scholarship.
May 2012
Lumena Louis, a chemistry major student in the MARC Program, presented a poster at the 2012 Brooklyn College Science Day. Her research title was “Lead in Chicken Eggs from Contaminated Urban Backyards: Preliminary Results.”
April 2012
The Environmental Sciences Analytical Center hosted the Annual Society of Ecological Restoration Conference (Northeastern and mid-Atlantic sections) with New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Three students presented posters: Suzanne Stempel – Water Conservation to Reduce Wet Weather Pollution Loads to the Gowanus Canal; Argie Miller – Carbon Credits for Green Infrastructure Trees?; Tarik Zarrouk – A Piezometer Method for Quantifying Stormwater Capture by Streetside Bioswales.
June 2011
Congratulations to Suzanne Stempel, a PhD candidate in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Program at CUNY Graduate Center and conducting research on “Water Conservation as a Strategy for Stormwater Control and Water Quality Improvement at Gowanus Canal,” for winning the 2011 New York City Brownfield Scholarship.
May 2011
Congratulations to Bushra Wazed, a MaCaulay Honors College and Premed Program students majoring in Chemistry, for winning the First Place Award in the Brooklyn College Science Day poster contest. Her research title was “Revisiting lead in New York City Tap Water.”
November 21, 2010
Professor Cheng was interviewed and an article was published on "Planet Brooklyn" regarding lead levels in Brooklyn garden soils. The full article can be accessed here.
July 15, 2010
The soil testing service offered by ESAC was mentioned in an article "The Brooklyn Backyard Brigade"(Linewaiter's Gazette, July 15 issue, page 7). To read the article, click here.
June 21, 2010
Congratulations to Reinbill Maniquez, an MA Geology Candidate, for the 2010 NYC Brownfield Scholarship. The scholarship is annually awarded to outstanding students who wish to pursue a career in environmental sciences or industry.
June 1, 2010
Professor Cheng joined the discussion of environmental contamination issues at Gowanus Canal in this online article "Superfund: What Will It Mean for Gowanus?" that appeared in the 219 Magazine.
May 28, 2010
Professor Cheng gave an oral presentation at the Brooklyn College Science Retreat. The presentation title was "Heavy Metal Contaminaton in New York City - a Public Health Emergency?"
May 15, 2010
Congratulations to Leda Lee, an MA Chemistry candidate who has worked in the lab since 2007 as an undergraduate student, won the 1st Place Award among all the graduate posters at the annual Brooklyn College Science Day! Syeda Akhta (MA Geology) also presented a poster showing preliminary results on her research about the effects of soil P-addition on arsenic mobilization.
May 6, 2010
At the Building Bridges: Community Partnerships and Learning Conference on campus, Professor was invited to serve as a science panelist and gave a presentation titled "Affordable Soil Testing for Brooklyn Gardeners."
March 20, 2010
Representing ESAC, Ahsan Syed tabled at the annual GrowTogether event organized by GreenThumb, one of the largest gardener's organizations in New York City. Over 200 soil testing flyers were distributed. Ahsan is an undergraduate student from Macaulay Honors' College. Thanks, Ahsan!
March 15, 2010
Professor Cheng presented a talk and a poster at the Geological Society of America NE-SE Joint Conference. His talk title was "Urban soil contamination: an obstacle to successful urban agriculture" and the poster was titled "Science and the city: a water course for science teachers in New York City." He also co-chaired the Environmental Geochemistry and Health Session at the Conference.
March 5, 2010
Daniel Slepitsky (Macaulay Honors' College student) and Professor Cheng attended the MillionTreeNYC Research Symposium which was held at the New School in Lower Manhattan. Daniel presented a poster titled "Biogeochemistry Within A Stormwater Capture System - the SIMS Metal Recycling Site in Bronx, NY."
October 29, 2009
Professor Cheng was invited to give a presention at EPA region II (in Manhattan) the findings about NYC soil contamination.
October 23, 2009
Professor Cheng was invited to give a presention at The College of Staten Island, Department of Biology and Center for the Environment, about NYC soil contamination. The talk is part of the seminar series sponsored by Fisher Scientific.
September 21, 2009
Two members of ESAC presented at the 2009 Urban Soil International Conference (SUITMA 5) held at New York City. Professor Cheng, as one of the conference organizers, was invited to present the group's recent results on the extent of garden soil contamination in New York City and it's implications on urban gardening. Together with Dan Walsh from Mayor's Office and Hannah Shayler from Cornell Extension, Professor Cheng led a panel discussion of soil contamination in NYC. Leda Lee presented a poster on the analytical aspects of Pb for garden soils.
August 2, 2009
Professor Cheng's research on arsenic was featured in the Spring 2009 issue of Brooklyn College magazine (p20).
July 23, 2009
The Environmental Sciences Analytical Center was featured in the "Spotlight on NY's Facilities" Section of NYSTAR e Newsletter. To view this July 23, 2009 issue, click here.
May 26, 2009
Professor Cheng was interviewed by CBS Evening News for the soil testing service that ESAC offers to the public and the health risk of soil lead to urban gardeners. The 2-minute segment was broadcasted on May 26. To view the story and news cast, click this link.
May 14, 2009
The soil testing service that ESAC offers to New York City residents and other gardeners was mentioned by a New York Times article (For Urban Gardeners, Lead is a Concern) on May 14. The article features Frank Meuschke, who did his soil analysis first at ESAC.
May 1, 2009
Congratulations to our student Michael Grinshtein, the 2nd place winner of graduate posters on Brooklyn College Science Day. Michael's presentation title was "Effect of pH and EDTA on Arsenic Speciation in Iron-Rich Water."
