University at Albany
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Departments of Atmospheric and Environmental Science (DAES), Chemistry, Biological Sciences and Physics host a four week hands-on instructional camp during the summer in partnership with Girls, Inc. This program, called EUREKA!, is designed to encourage interest females in STEM. https://www.albany.edu/news/87457.php

The university partners with the Trinity Alliance for their end of year move out program. The Offices of Sustainability and Res Life provide POD units for students to place gently used but unwanted items at the end of the year. Volunteers sort through the materials and box them up according to category. On a designated day, the boxes are brought down to Trinity Alliance, a non-profit agency located in the south end of Albany. Their mission is to improve the neighborhood as a setting for family life, contributing to health and well-being, and promoting education and employment as a means of self-development. Campus members help to put out the donated items as Trinity clients arrive and "shop" for items. There is no charge for the clients, they can take whatever they wish from the selection of clothes, bedding, household items, appliances and kitchenware. If there are items left over, Trinity distributions the contributions to other organizations in the Albany area. This partnership has been occurring for over five years.

The Stormwater Coalition of Albany County is comprised of 11 municipalities and the University at Albany with each Coalition member providing mutual support and assistance in implementing MS4 Permit requirements. Last year, the coalition employed four interns as part of a grant funded project to map historic well and septic systems, green infrastructure assets, municipal soil boring data and Erie canal systems. The work of the coalition was awarded with the Capital District Regional Planning Commission's 2017 Erastus Corning Achievement Award for Inter-municipal Cooperation. See the announcement at: https://cdrpc.org/capital-district-regional-planning-commission-announces-2017-erastus-corning-achievement-awards
Information about the coalition can be found at: http://www.stormwateralbanycounty.org/stormwater-coalition/

The university is collaborating with Capital Roots on a multi-year assessment of food access to low income population in Albany County. The university has members serving on the steering committee as well as students and professors involved in the research.https://www.capitalroots.org/about-us/foodassessment/

The Office of Sustainability and Energy Management partner with Tech Valley High school, a public high school located across from the university. For the past three years, they have provided longitudinal data on the campus heat, electricity, carbon emissions, water, waste and recycling. Students in the Algebra and Bioengineering class tour the campus power plant and other sustainable features such as their hybrid buses and porous pavement to learn about sustainable practices. The students then work with the data, attempting to predict the current year data based on past responses as well as identify the mathematic function more illustrated by the data trends. The Director of Sustainability attends their final presentations and compares their predictions to the actual data. A discussion ensues about the trends and reasons why the data fluctuates.