BCC RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS DIPLOMACY GRANT TO FURTHER ITS WORK ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA
BCC is the recipient of a $11,000 US State Department Public Diplomacy grant through the US Consulate in Hyderabad, India, that will enable it to continue work on climate change in India. Bringing together the resources of the United States and India, the grant is particularly important and timely during this year, the 75th anniversary of the partnership between the two countries.
The Principal Investigators (PIs) on the grant are Professor Neal Phillip, Chairperson of BCC Department of Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences and Professor Paramita Sen of the same Department. They will use the grant to travel to 3 states in India, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to install solar powered automatic weather stations that will also be used to monitor air quality and soil moisture in the regions where they will be installed.
Dr. Thomas A. Isekenegbe, President of Bronx Community College, 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.”
Dr. Phillip and Professor Sen’s trip to India is an opportunity for curriculum exchange through meetings with academic institutions. They will conduct collective social learning and thematic communication workshops on climate change to audiences of over 5,000 participants that will be drawn from high schools, universities and the local population. In addition, they will also demonstrate the use of novel equipment used to monitor climate and climate change.
Dr. Phillip noted: “These meetings will put BCC on the world map for its work on climate change. We have a strong track record of working not only with India, but also with Spain and Australia. Our BCC and other CUNY students have made a great contribution to this effort, and we could not have accomplished this without them.”
Professor Sen added: “Receiving a diplomacy grant from the State Department is significant not only for Bronx Community College, but the entire CUNY network. The grant leverages our strengths in climate change and furthers our outreach to the academic and local community in India.”
All of the data received from the weather stations in India will be automatically shared with the stakeholders in the three states in India along with all the partners that BCC has worked with in other states in India. The data will also be further analyzed at BCC and used for conference presentations and journal publications and will also be incorporated into Earth and Environmental Science courses at BCC.
For further information contact: Prof. Neal Phillip at 917-554-0118 (neal.phillip@bcc.cuny.edu) or Prof. Paramita Sen at 732-763-9358 (paramita.sen@bcc.cuny.edu)