News & Media

Syracuse Institute Studies Plastic Stormwater Pollution in Home City

The Institute for Sustainability Engagement (ISE, formerly known as the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions) is helping tackle plastic pollution in our waterways as a sub-awardee of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant.  

This $300,000 project lead by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Cornell University centers its efforts around stormwater-derived debris, specifically through the use of a trash capture technology known as the LittaTrap, which is designed to capture debris that enters storm drains. As a sub-awardee on this grant, ISE will help to deploy LittaTraps in the City of Syracuse, engage college students to analyze the materials captured (particularly plastic debris), and use that data to help inform plastic pollution reduction recommendations and to generally raise awareness about plastic pollution across the city.  

Once the trash is collected from the LittaTraps, samples are analyzed to determine the quantity of plastic, the sources of the plastic debris, and how that debris moves through the watershed. The data analysis will be used to develop marine debris prevention and reduction strategies.  

Photo depicts an area where a LittaTrap was installed in Rochester, NY to collect stormwater debris for later collection and analysis as part of RIT’s Community Action for Stormwater Clean-Up and Debris Elimination (CASCADE) program. ISE will collaboratively expand this program by conducting similar efforts in Syracuse.

These actions are a collaborative expansion of RIT’s preexisting program, the Community Action for Stormwater Clean-Up and Debris Elimination (CASCADE) program. The team formed under the Sea Grant —which includes project leads RIT and Cornell University and sub-awardees ISE and University of Buffalo (UB) — plans to install more trash capture devices in storm drains across the region, with the goal to create a larger interconnected community network that is actively involved in preventing and remediating debris pollution in Western New York and the watersheds of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. 

“ISE is thrilled to be joining this effort to better understand the causes and impacts of plastic pollution in our upstate New York communities,” says ISE Assistant Director, Jesse Kerns. “We are thankful for NOAA’s support and for the opportunity to partner with our dedicated colleagues at Cornell, RIT, and UB to develop preventative solutions to this important issue.”  

Funding for this project is part of the Biden administration’s $27 million investment made available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support community-driven marine debris solutions, including prevention and removal. The project is one of 10 Marine Debris Community Action Coalitions selected for funding, which engages communities, groups, and localities, particularly those that have been historically underserved. The selected projects support innovative research and foster local coalitions to address urgent marine debris issues by using the NOAA Sea Grant’s partnered approach to bring science together with communities for solutions that work.  

Students collect the contents of a LittaTrap to analyze its contents as part of a Community Action for Stormwater Clean-Up and Debris Elimination (CASCADE) program project in Rochester, NY conducted in November 2024. ISE will collaboratively expand this program by conducting similar efforts in Syracuse.

Syracuse University Research Highlights Puerto Rico’s Grassroots Climate Response Efforts

The diverse landscape of Puerto Rico — which encompasses coastal lowlands, mountain ranges, and a tropical rainforest — necessitates an equally if not more diverse range of tools and community action to support its residents and ecosystems living in harmony. Amid hurricanes, landslides, and other weather-related crises magnified by climate change, understanding Puerto Rico’s vulnerabilities and ability to adapt to evolving climate risks is essential to its long-term prosperity. The Institute for Sustainability Engagement (ISE, formerly known as the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions) continues to support the Caribbean Island’s mission to achieve greater climate resiliency through the institute’s recent research project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Program Office (NOAA CPO).

The ISE’s NOAA CPO Adaptation Sciences (AdSci) program FY23 competition project, “Beyond first response: investigating how Puerto Rico’s community-based organizations drive local climate action”, will support Caribbean climate adaptation by co-producing new research on Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), which are an important and understudied pillar of Puerto Rico’s climate-response system. By the end of this $300,000 two-year research project, ISE will advance the dialogue on the role CBOs play in climate adaptation efforts in island communities, contributing to the larger discussion about how policymakers can engage and integrate CBOs into a larger climate adaptation strategy.

CBOs have stepped up as Puerto Rico’s first line of defense against an increasing bombardment of environmental stressors due to a rising global climate. Through their hyper-local leadership, mediation, and implementation, these groups of largely informal, volunteer, not-for-profit civilian teams have established themselves as a vital and trusted resource in the face of climate emergencies, compared to the suboptimal role played by state and federal authorities. Most recently, CBOs were a critical part of a faster and more effective recovery response after Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Ernesto.

“Receiving minimal support in the face of steadily worsening challenges, Puerto Rico is often referred to as an ‘underserved’ population, but this idea does not capture the whole picture,” explained Kaira Fuentes, ISE’s CoPI for the AdSci project. “As an island territory, Puerto Rico’s climate-related risks are exacerbated by a 120-year-long colonial legacy. Those who engage in CBOs are self-determined and proud to serve in their neighborhoods, and their peers trust them to step up where their governments have not. As these groups are critical to driving local action, understanding their function, impact, and opportunities to organize can only strengthen their ability to succeed.”

Flood damage in San Juan, Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria in 2017, captured by Dr. Kaira Fuentes.

While Puerto Rican CBOs have become experts in emergency response, the ways in which they facilitate “climate adaptation” (creating a means to deal with future stressors) outside the disaster-response period is less clear. This project will provide new insights into the strategies, tools, barriers, and adaptive capacities of CBOs to drive local climate actions in Puerto Rico through the following interdisciplinary and participatory adaptation research methods:

  • Exploratory case study development
  • Establishment of a Community Advisory Committee
  • Culminating regional presentations and a final report

In addition to identifying and describing how CBOs facilitate climate adaptation in Puerto Rico, this project aims to:

  • Develop recommendations for policy-makers that define strategies and additional areas of study for drawing CBOs more centrally into climate adaptation efforts
  • Develop a framework for integrating participatory research methods in climate adaptation inquiries
  • Support knowledge exchange, amplify local stories and voices, and strengthen the Caribbean community of practice.

This research project is strengthened by the perspectives of its two Puerto Rican Co-Principal Investigators, Fuentes (ISE) and Professor Juan E. Marcano, University of Puerto Rico Humacao (UPRH), who have each contributed significant research on local perceptions of conservation in Puerto Rico and the role of community-based groups in disaster recovery. As institutions, ISE and UPRH provide a breadth of applied and community-based research experience that will strengthen the completion of this project.

The NOAA CPO AdSci program received 27 proposals in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), and of these, 11 projects were selected for funding, totaling $3,140,372.00 in grants.

Flood damage in San Juan, Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria in 2017, captured by Dr. Kaira Fuentes.
Fishermen from the Laguna San José in Puerto Rico repairing their fishing boats to maintain their means of livelihood, captured by Dr. Kaira Fuentes.

Inspiring Change: Syracuse University Introduces Institute for Sustainability Engagement

Today, the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions (CSCS) is thrilled to announce its rebranding at Syracuse University as the Institute for Sustainability Engagement (ISE). This transformation reflects the organization’s continued and growing commitment to helping communities implement sustainability initiatives through transdisciplinary collaboration.

The transition from a center to an institute marks a significant step forward, positioning it for increased growth and broader impact. As a sustainability engagement institute, ISE focuses on connecting communities with university resources such as academic departments, faculty, and students, while leveraging new opportunities for funding, partnership, and impact.

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Syracuse University Joins Team in $650K National Science Foundation Award to Accelerate Drinking Water Solutions for Small Communities

Kickoff meeting of the National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator projects in Washington DC (January 2024). VersaWater team members left to right: Tess Clark (Syracuse Center for Sustainable Community Solutions (CSCS)), Kaira Fuentes (CSCS), Melissa Young (CSCS), Alexandra Gearing (Cornell Engineering), and Ruth Richardson (Cornell Engineering).

With funds sub-awarded through the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Convergence Accelerator program, Syracuse University’s Center for Sustainable Community Solutions (CSCS) will help develop more accessible pathways for small communities to develop and maintain safe drinking water infrastructure. This collaborative project will focus on communities in Puerto Rico, with the ultimate goal being to use this case study as a framework that can be replicated in other U.S. locations and beyond. The project officially kicked off in February 2024. 

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Center for Sustainable Community Solutions and Environmental Finance Center Announces New Director

The College of Engineering and Computer Science is pleased to announce the transition of Melissa Young into a new role as Director of the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions – Environmental Finance Center (CSCS-EFC) at Syracuse University. CSCS-EFC is housed within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. With her extensive leadership experience and dedication to sustainability, Young is poised to build upon the Center’s long and successful history and to continue developing impactful programming for the communities it serves.

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Launching EFCN’s National Water Leadership Program

In April, the Environmental Finance Center Network’s (EFCN’s) Water Leadership Program announced the inaugural cohort of 38 water professionals from around the country who will participate in a three-month professional development program. The program aims to give rising water leaders the training and resources needed to face the challenges of utility management with confidence and improve the quality of life of their residents. Through the pilot program, water professionals will participate in three months of sessions focused on asset and data management, disaster resiliency and planning, environmental justice, strategic communications, culturally responsive leadership, and other subject areas that are critical in an increasingly diverse and rapidly changing water sector.

The program is funded by a grant awarded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Program, which launched in 2021. The pilot program is one of several receiving a total of $3.8 million in funding to help build the water workforce and connect individuals to career opportunities in the drinking water and wastewater utility sector, as well as expand public awareness about job opportunities at drinking water and water treatment utilities.

Improving Water Quality in Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico, more than 250,000 residents lack basic access to clean water or sanitation. While there are several barriers, one obstacle is a lack of coordination. How can we make sure all groups can  advance community goals of ensuring clean water? One community that is creating a new model for engagement is Las Curias, in greater San Juan.