Field-Trip to Long Island Vineyard
3rd Agricultural Geophysics Workshop at Cornell University’s Long Island Horticultural Research & Extension Center
Reflections
Innovation Unedited
Kenneth Arrow: 1972
Nobel Prize in Economics
Robert Aumann: 2005
Nobel Prize in Economics
Julius Axelrod: 1970
Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Stanley Cohen: 1986
Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Gertrude Elion: 1988
Nobel Prize in Physics
Herbert Hauptman: 1985
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Robert Hofstadter: 1961
Nobel Prize in Physics
Jerome Karle: 1985
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Arthur Kornberg: 1959
Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Leon Lederman: 1988
Nobel Prize in Physics
Arno Penzias: 1978
Nobel Prize in Astrophysics
Julian Schwinger: 1965
Nobel Prize in Physics
Rosalyn Yalow: 1977
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Lindsay Siegel
Executive Director
Zahn Innovation Center
City College of New York
Elizabeth Vilchis
Operations
Homer Delivery
Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D.
Director
Science & Tech Studies Prog
Associate Professor, History
Stevens Institute of Technology
Aaron M. Socha, Ph.D.
Director: Ctr for Sust Energy
Professor: Department of Chemistry
Bronx Community College, CUNY
Theo Vassilakis, Ph.D.
Founder & CEO
Metanautix
For this project I was a part of reasearch, as well as co-author and co-designer for the poster. The one thing that stuck with me about Baoding,China was the political and environmental ambivalence that exists within the city. I found it amazing how Baoding went from “The Greenest City in the World” to “China’s Most Polluted City” in a matter of 4 years. It goes to show the complications that arise when the modern and the traditional intertwine.
I was involved in this project as a co-author and co-designer. My work contributed mainly focused on the proposing of solutions for our respective site, as well as the procuring and designing of the images found on the poster. I found it extremely surprising that, despite the unhealthy and hazardous air conditions that Baoding faces day to day, the citizens of the area seem to 1. not see the real health conditions associated with these conditions and 2. not seem willing to contribute to the betterment of these conditions. It is easy to see, from an objective view, a problem or condition, but it is rather difficult to both propose a solution and implement said solution.
I am a co-author and co-designer for this poster. While I was doing this project, I was amazed at the extent of the air pollution in Baoding. The city has gone very few days with clean air, and it is not uncommon for air quality to reach very hazardous levels. Before this project, I was aware of the pollution problems plaguing Beijing; however, I did not know that Beijing’s problems were often attributed to another city (in this case, Baoding), whose pollution problems were worse than those in Beijing. As a result, researching this pollution opened my eyes to some of the world’s worst pollution problems.
I really like the title for your poster. It captures the viewers attention very well. The rest of your poster is also great. The information is presented very clearly with the use of both paragraphs and bullet points. The information is very easy to digest and the pictures worked very well with the rest of the poster at describing the problem.
The poster does a good job of conveying the issues occurring in Baoding. It also is able to effectively present the irony of the current situation in Baoding, as the city is known for having many factories that try to help lower pollution, but, in fact, these factories are some of the worst polluters in Baoding. The use of bullet points makes the poster easy to read and understand exactly what is important.
I am the last author of this poster. This project exposed the reality of China’s control problem. On one hand, China would very much like to control its pollution to appear well in the eyes of the world, but on the other hand, It also would like to conceal pollution from its citizens to preserve a good image.
This political aspect of Baoding’s (and China’s) pollution problem makes the power of transparency even more visible.
Something that caught my attention in your poster was how you directly involve the government in your remediation plans. A large environmental issue such as cleaning up the air pollution in China is a serious undertaking that a private firm probably can’t fix on its own. I definitely see how and agree that some serious government involvement and intervention is necessary.
The part the stood out to me, from the very first glance, is your title. I like how you incorporated the oxymoron that is Boading’s label as the “Greenest city in china” accredited to Business Insider into your title, and go onto follow that up with another label designed to address the environmental pollution surrounding the city. It fits very well.
Cleaning up Baoding would be great for China since, as you mentioned in your poster, China is seen as an extremely polluted country. The most powerful image in your poster was the air quality index map of northeastern China. This figure really captured the extent of contamination in the country, and it supported your argument well.
The use of data tables/maps in your poster was really effective, they really helped to illustrate the magnitude of the problem and made your poster more readable. The approach to the problem makes sense to me but I struggle a little bit with how feasible it would be to get the cooperation of the Chinese government. I like your title, its good at grabbing the attention of passerby, and your color scheme was also pleasing to the eye. Nice work.
I am impressed by the way that this poster is presented. Not only does the eye-catching title capture the audience’s attention, but the group includes small details like interesting titles for each section, which make a huge impact. I also think that the graphics and photos are effective in displaying the information in a visually appealing way.
Your title is very noteworthy – it demonstrates the issue effectively and indicates the complexities at hand in the region. On this point, your explication of ‘Baoding in Ambivalence’ under the ‘Challenges’ section offers the audience more perspective on the green vs polluted issue. Furthermore, the photo depicting garbage being burned and the map of the forecasted pollution levels show just how problematic this level of air pollution is. Your overall layout is easy to read and employs an excellent color scheme. I only wish to have learned more about the wind turbine industry and the number of people it employs. This may have helped to understand its social impact and dominance in the region. Otherwise, your poster is effective in communicating its goals to clean up Baoding’s factories.
The figure showing the levels of pollution really drew me in to the poster. The organization of the proposed solution is very effective because you address each of the three groups that you have to convince. I think it’s also really great that you openly stated the possible issues of dealing with the Chinese government. The overall design is very aesthetically pleasing as well as effective.
As others have already said, I love your title. It illustrates the complexity of the situation and also serves as a perfect attention-grabber to somebody walking by the poster. The visuals were very striking, though I was unsure about exactly what the P2.5 and P10 ratings entailed. I was unsure if they were the same as the AQI that was explained on the right of the poster, but perhaps it would be good to explain those ratings further when you present the poster. I also really liked how you explained the exact health risks and symptoms of exposure to the contaminants.
I thought that the proposed solutions to improving the current efforts underway in Baoding seemed well researched and thorough. My one suggestions would be to draw a stronger argument as to how Baoding might overcome the cylclic socioeconomic problem. Maybe there could be some way to verbally illustrate how the promise of new jobs is concrete and not theoretical. Otherwise, I found the rest of the solutions to answer the city’s problems much more effectively than Baoding’s current efforts
As you mentioned, the Chinese Government has a history of censorship and I believe that there still is a significant amount of censorship in China today. Do you think perhaps the citizens of Boading not being aware of the deteriorated conditions they live in may potentially be as a result of the government not wanting them to know?
If this is true, then your attempts to fix the issue would have to be done without going against the government(without letting the people know the current conditions). This will be a great challenge i think.
The maps and images on this poster are very helpful to understanding the situation in Baoding. It is great that the government in China has taken measures to lessen pollution. Could it be possible that these measures may not be effective as of yet if they were implemented relatively recent? It’s a great idea to add in benefits for the companies if they use these new solutions.
I really liked how Baoding was first introduced through its culture and history, before presenting the issue. The pie chart and Air Quality levels map are great visuals that capture the audience’s attention and enforce the reader’s understanding of the situation. I liked how the proposed solutions were broken down, step by step, addressed the old and current factories, and then focused on renewable energy companies, the Chinese government and the citizens.
Overall, I think the poster is great. I think there could have been more photos and images as there is quite a lot of text. I think the proposed solutions are very thought out. These companies that renovate and buy out the “bad” land should be given multiple incentives such as tax breaks to get them to buy out and fix up the land. I am a little confused in one aspect. I am not sure how this would cause the economy to take a nosedive even if the traditional businesses are shut down because it seems that these factories are simply being replaced by modern, more environmentally safe businesses. I would think the spending of money on modernizing these companies would add to growth, instead of leading to financial decay.
Being my first time creating a poster, I found the experience to be informative and memorable. Poster making, as a I learned, is a good skill to have. Not only do you have to be able to present data in a clear and simple manner, you have to focus on a solid aesthetic appeal as well. A strong combination of the two will lead to a fantastic poster.
I also found the the poster session to be a great experience, since it was my first one as well. It was a great collection of experiments and studies presented in a professional manner. I am glad I had the chance to present and a share a solution to a global issue that truly needs awareness.
My experience with the poster session was one of ambivalence. On one hand, the information and issues presented were powerful in their implications. On the other, a few poster presenters showed an evident lack of work.
Overall, I became aware of quite a few important issues in NYC and the world.
Your color scheme is very nice and it pulls the poster together very effectively. The organization of your information was clear and tidy, everything fit together so nicely. Though you clearly put in a lot of time researching your issue, you manage to include information that is essential without going in too heavily with extra text and data. The variety or charts also impresses me since you brought different kinds of data visualization together to better tell this story.
Overall, I had a fun experience at the poster session. It was interesting to see what other people were researching throughout the semester. I also found it fun to explain our findings to other people, most of whom seemed interested in our research. It was my first ever poster session, and I found it very fulfilling.
In terms of the whole experience in creating this poster, I found the pollution problem in China very fascinating. Seeing how bad air quality levels were really opened my eyes to some of the world’s worst pollution problems. Even now, this topic is highly relevant, as China’s air pollution is taking center stage in the news once again.
This was the first time I’ve ever worked on a physical display of such sorts – a scientific poster. It was a challenge to implement ideas of both specificity of content and visual appeal. The creation of the poster itself was a new experience that I’ve enjoyed and would undoubtedly do again with enthusiasm. The poster session was also a new experience. It was nice to be able to display and give a presentation on the work my group and I have done. It was also very interesting to see the work other groups have done, the amount of different fields they have covered and the different ways they’ve conveyed their research (through design, layout, and content).
Your presentation of this problem was very interesting as i was not aware of it. However, it could be beneficial to provide more information about the green technology such as the wind turbines in place.
This poster does a great job at showing the issue in Baoding.I was not aware of this issue and I think it is great that this poster captures peoples attention. Remediating this city will be a great challenge but for the sake of the environment and the people living here, it needs to be done.
I thought the ideas for implementing solutions to reduce pollution were all good ideas.
I think the poster is informative and detailed. However, I would’ve like to see more photos of the polluted air in the city. Otherwise, great job!
What, more specifically, can be done to educate the citizens of Baoding? Perhaps, using social media to reach them.
I think it’s very interesting how you took into account the economy and politics of China for the remediation process. It’s very important to account for the feasibility of your solution within the larger context.
Do you think that current climate talks taking place in Paris will have any effects in Boading?
This is a very interesting case of a city.
A city that manufactures renewable energy technology, but is itself very polluted.
The city is helping the globe by manufacturing renewable energy components such as wind turbines and photovoltaic panels.
It was really interesting to learn how it went from being called “The Greenest City in the World” to having a really big problem with air pollution. It was also interesting to consider that the manufacturing of wind turbine blades and photovoltaic cells could have a large role to play in the pollution. It is really easy to talk about expanding green technologies, but the issue of how to manufacture them in a manner that is safe for people and the environment is often overlooked.
Your poster looks great to begin with. You did a great job of researching several ways to begin environmental cleanup, including engineering and social methods. This case is similar to what happened in the US in small industrial towns, like Woburn, and it would be interesting to compare US to Chinese methodologies for remediation.
Air pollution is always a serious problem both locally and globally. The fact that there was such a drastic change from being the greenest city to one of the worst was really unbelievable. The solutions for the problem were well designed.
This paper raises opportunity to implement an idea of micro data collectors to quantify the air pollution. As well as an opportunity for studies on the asthma, to showcase the adverse health affects that are occurring.
nice poster, it is very detailed. good job!
Interesting poster seeing how a city goes from most “greenest” to most polluted in a matter of just four years.
I think closing down traditional industries is not an effective strategy to reduce the air pollution in China. The effective would be to implement low carbon pilot zones in the industries that release excessive pollution.
This poster helped introduce a new CITY! Air pollution is a big problem and I love the idea of providing cleanup incentives for renewable energy companies, though i hate the fact that money is more important that the future health but this is the world we live in. Very informative thank you.
You know what really interested me was the city that you had chosen, I always thought of China as Shangai or Beijing, but to hear of Boadang, i really opened up my perspective of other metropolis, and it showed me that this is actually a legitmate issue. I like how you have done an in depth research of the issue and clearly presented it.
Having a past knowledge of the ever-growing pollution in China, this author writes down the risks pollution has on society. Although the author writes about the location there is not enough information why there needs to be remediation.
Amazing poster. I have seen in recent years a more willingness from the Chinese Government to adopt green solutions and look to be more environmentally responsible. It might be a worthwhile chance to reach out to the embassy and suggest a brown-field type resolution that they might want to implement and show them your research.
The poster title was very creative and intriguing. Air pollution has been an issue and it’s interesting to see the extent of air pollution in Baoding, especially since it went from greenest city to most polluted in just four years.
Interesting juxtaposition between the two extremes of one city. It was an eye opening topic. If this has happened once, it can happen again. The study was a precautionary tale at the very least!
It was very interesting to see a city be touted as green yet an environmental irresponsible. I like how you acknowledge the Chinese social and political barriers to your solutions. However, I think the public health problems could have been developed more with quantitative data
the issue was definitely caused by too much of burning of coal. in order to achieve the economy goal, Chinese government sacrifice the environment. it will take so much of time to recover.
This presentation is well put together. This is something we have been hearing about.
Great issue and timing, especially when a city goes from one end of the spectrum to the other in four years. Seems like China is finally waking up to its air pollution problems, so I think should be seen as an ally. Beautiful poster.
The issue of air pollution is a delicate one. Some countries are making great advances and I think they need to be encouraged to help places like Boading more, because if at least one group (country) is polluting heavily all the United States or Europe’s efforts would have been in vein. This is an issue that affects the whole planet and I am glad to see it brought up over and over again until we find a solution.
Great poster! I especially liked how you make clear the “solutions” that are not working. in order to reduce air pollution, you need to eliminate pollutants. Simply closing a factory that is badly polluting wont fix the problem unless you can replace that factory with a better one. Otherwise a similarly polluting factory will open up somewhere else.