NEWS TIMES
By Katrina Koerting
Published 3:22 pm EDT, Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Photo: Contributed Photo / Western Connecticut State University
Pictured from left to right: Dr. Theodora Pinou; Donna Merrill and Louise Washer from Pollinator Pathway; Sefra Alexandra from The Ecotype Project and graduate student Samantha Lipscomb.
DANBURY — Though many universities across the country have suspended graduate research projects, Western Connecticut State University recently received funding to keep its environmental work going.
A fellowship and continuing the university’s science outreach program, “Finding Our Way,” will be supported this year thanks to funding from various groups. Both are connected to the university’s new master’s program in integrative biological diversity, which started last year.
“These funded programs will expand efforts to educate the public about the small things they can do to help the environment and their communities and improve their environmental health,” Theodora Pinou, the graduate program’s coordinator, said in a statement. “These are of extreme importance in today’s climate where people are looking for constructive ways to spend their time.”
Samantha Lipscomb, of Seymour, and a first-year graduate student in the program, is this year’s fellow.
A fellowship and continuing the university’s science outreach program, “Finding Our Way,” will be supported this year thanks to funding from various groups. Both are connected to the university’s new master’s program in integrative biological diversity, which started last year.
Her degree focuses on genetic and native plant-pollinator network restoration and will use this knowledge as the fellow to extend the Pollinator Pathway program into Danbury’s Tarrywile Park. She will monitor the pollinators that visit the park and plans to plant a native ecotype garden there. She also plans to provide educational material at the garden to better help the public interact with it and be inspired to plant native plants at home.
“It’s important for people to know that they can participate in conserving Connecticut’s native species,” Lipscomb said.
Landscape designers and ecologists from the Highstead Foundation will work with Lipscomb to expand pollinator habitat connections identified by the Hudson to Housatonic conservation initiative. The native seeds come from Northeast Organic Farming Association Ecotype Project and the fellowship position has funding from Praxair/Linde, Pinou said.
Pinou has worked with these groups for a long time and is “thrilled to be able to bring all of them together for powerful work that can really impact human behavior and improve the environment.” She said there are plans to build on these collaborations to extend the program beyond Danbury.
“This is exactly what the graduate program is all about, ‘building on our strengths through collaboration, science and positive energy,’ ” she said.
“This is exactly what the graduate program is all about, ‘building on our strengths through collaboration, science and positive energy,’ ” she said.
Under the “Finding Our Way” STEM outreach program, graduate students will learn about the history of the local watershed and restore riparian buffers along the Still River by planting more than 2,000 native plants and restoring more than 3 acres of habitat over the project’s three years. It will continue this year thanks to a grant from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
They’ll work with the Housatonic Valley Association and Danbury High School science teachers and students.
High school students, especially those interested in aquatic sciences, will work over the summer. They’ll spend the day restoring habitat alongside the graduate students, who will then provide mentoring.
“These students would not only work with the HVA Connection Program to help restore the Still River habitat, but would gain valuable mentoring experience at the university in preparation for college or job success,” Pinou said.
Seventh-grade students can also get involved with the university’s Environmental Stewardship Competition. Submission deadlines are April 25 and the winners will be announced in June.
The “Finding Our Way” program also teams up educators. The university’s faculty will work with Danbury Public School STEM administrators to support community outreach and professional development, as teachers transition to project-based instructional teaching methods.
kkoerting@newstimes.com
