Panel Presentations / Discussions 

2005 College-wide Symposium on Teaching, Research and Outreach: A Continuing Dialogue on the Synergy Between Teaching, Research and Outreach

A Local and International Perspective on the Outreach, Research and Teaching is an integral part of the Department of Landscape Architecture’s long tradition of community outreach through undergraduate and graduate studio projects. These efforts have become more organized and systemic within the last 10 years through the creation and development of the Center for Community Design Research.

In addition to being an important component of our core teaching philosophy, outreach activities enhance our research.  Outreach activities through our courses uncover research projects, which are taken on by faculty, graduate student thesis work and undergraduate capstone projects.  This is particularly evident in the international sector, resulting in collaborative projects with long standing interdisciplinary partnerships in:

• Costa Rica with SUNY Buffalo and the Monteverde Institute
• Brazil with CAPES/FIPSE
• Chili/Spain with CES Vitoria-Gasteiz & University of Chile

In each case, we are able to build strong relationships with communities by first acting as guests not experts, and valuing local knowledge and expertise.

Contacts: Scott Shannon and Cheryl Doble, Landscape Architecture

Integrating Conservation Biology and Environmental Engineering in Urban Environments merges outreach, teaching and research.  Outreach programs build strong partnerships where each member benefits.  Researchers are given access to pursue their work and community members are able to voice their concerns and guide the research.  For example the Onondaga Lake CleanUp Corps is composed of community groups. ESF Faculty members and graduate students educate these groups about the science of Onondaga Creek and Lake. Together, they are involved in a dialogue to create a research agenda based upon a common vision for the Lake.  These efforts are naturally integrated into the faculty’s classrooms where the city of Syracuse serves as a laboratory.  Key to this process is researching a self-organizing and low maintenance watershed system, enhancing biotic integrity while protecting residents from flooding.

Contacts: Ted Endreny, Environmental Resources & Forest Engineering and Don Leopold, Environmental & Forest Biology

The Certificate Programs in Advanced Engineering Tools, Bioprocess Engineering and Indoor Environmental Quality are outreach programs that serve un/underemployed workers as well as the business community.  Faculty members teach courses that are geared towards working adults that seek training in areas where there is job growth.  The certificate programs allow faculty to teach a different audience than is typically taught at ESF, thus gaining a valuable perspective.  Working with high growth, emerging technologies gives the faculty an opportunity to apply their research to their teaching.

Contacts: Bandaru Ramarao, Paper Science & Engineering and Jim Hassett, Environmental Resources & Forest Engineering                                                                                                                   

The ESF Science Corps creates an outreach forum that allows ESF faculty and graduate students the opportunity to present the results of their own cutting edge research to New York State high school students.  Thus, supporting the teaching of environmental science in the community.  The graduate students in this program gain teaching and communication skills through their work with partner teachers and high school students. These skills will be used when the students teach university courses and when they communicate their research to potential funders and/or policy makers.

Contact: Rick Beal, Outreach

Lessons from the Syracuse Urban Metal Mapping Project involve using ESF students, outreach and research to improve the quality of urban life.  The goal of this project is to determine amounts and sources of lead in homes in Syracuse.  Childhood lead poisoning is a problem in Syracuse affecting the brain development in young children.  Thus, this research project has clear outreach implications.  ESF students were involved in communicating the research to homeowners, gaining access and obtaining dust samples to analyze.  Because ESF students were integral to the study, they gained valuable research and outreach experiences themselves.

Contact: David Johnson, Chemistry

The Service Learning Component of Writing for Environmental Professionals (CLL 410) bridges students' academic work with their citizenship activities in the local community.  Each student performs a minimum of 20 hours of service at such sites as Westcott Community Center; PEACE, Inc.; Beaver Lake Nature Center; the Dorothy Day House; Baltimore Woods; Syracuse Stage; and several city elementary and middle schools.  Their class projects involve preparing written and audio-visual materials such as volunteer training manuals, posters, web pages, brochures, and video productions.  This program is a model for embedding outreach directly into teaching.  Students are more motivated and gain valuable out of class experience through this type of service learning.

Contact: Benette Whitmore, Environmental Studies