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
I had more fun than I expected making this poster. The idea of sussing out a complicated problem via science isn’t really something I do. However, the project I got to work on really explored intersections between scientific struggles and the human lives and actions that they are involved in. Researching El Salvador’s history, issues, and people was fascinating and relating it to the science that would help them was quite satisfying. Additionally, creating a poster of this magnitude is something I’ve never done before and it was really something else! I always am assigned essays which, while full of thoughts and information, don’t really look like much. The posters are so beautiful and announce so clearly their content, it was unlike anything I’ve done so far in college. A very interesting way to present ideas. So overall this has been a reminder that working outside my comfort zone is vital to developing as a student.
I am Sophia Ebanks, co-author of this poster along with Lily Evans. The extent of my involvement in the poster was researching historical background, sociological challenges, and scientific solutions. Before this project, I was aware of the western world’s political and economic activity in the poorer regions of the world, especially Latin America, but I was not aware of the massive environmental damage and extreme sense of powerlessness that citizens in those countries undergo because of western involvement. This is the case, as we discovered, in El Salvador.
I am Sophia Ebanks, co-author of this poster along with Lily Evans. The extent of my involvement in the poster was researching historical background, sociological challenges, and scientific solutions. Before this project, I was aware of the western world’s political and economic activity in the poorer regions of the world, especially Latin America, but I was not aware of the massive environmental damage and extreme sense of powerlessness that citizens in those countries undergo because of western involvement. This is the case, as we discovered, in El Salvador.
I found the mitigations methods presented in this work very intriguing. The detoxification of Cyanide especially presents a very viable solution to the problem. I believe that this method, although will require a lot of money will be very effective
I really enjoyed reading your poster. It was effective at getting the message across. The use of bullet points instead of long paragraphs was also a plus, as it made the information much easier to digest. I also liked how you have multiple solutions, instead of just one. this made your research seem very thorough.
It was interesting to read the part of your poster about the Cornstarch method of green mining. Having also researched an environmental site where mining produced some health hazards, Vijay and I came across the same method. We were unsure how we would be able to apply to it to substitute mercury assisted mining, but it’s great you guys found it helpful in cleaning up the cyanide mining process.
To be fair, I am not shocked to see that the majority of water pollution in el Salvador is a result of business projects set by foreign powers. These overly intrusive mining companies locate resources in poor regions of the world and extract them without little care of the indigenous people.There needs to be better enforcement from the local government and a greater awareness of the issue. Good Job!
Your poster represents a strong combination of physical and social scientific thinking. Your design is simple, clear and presents information in an easy-to-read manner. i like that your solution is 3-fold, attacking various aspects of El Salvador’s problem. I particularly like the inclusion of the equation for deotxification of cyanide.
Visually speaking, this poster is great: simple and to the point. The information on the poster is very easy to understand as well. I found the Challenges section particularly interesting because it provides a fine mix of health effects and sociological challenges. I also found the diagram documenting the Detoxification of Cyanide to be very helpful in providing a full understanding of the process.
Visually speaking, there is a certain aesthetic to simplicity in layout. Simplicity both eases and guides a viewer’s attention and physical reading of the poster – it is a nice effect. There is, however, a very noticeable blank space under the general map of El Salvador, and also a spacing issue with the “Challenges” and “Suggested Solutions” text boxes that do not coincide with the proportions on other areas. It is always a good idea to understand the economic feasibility of certain proposed solutions, it is good that the issue was explored. The 2013 study done by Northwestern University seems to be a very integrable alternative method. Hopefully the mining companies seek to both implement this method and assist in the cleanup efforts.
Your poster is highly informative, yet succinct and to the point. I especially appreciate the obvious care you put into detailing the current efforts in place to combat the water pollution and toxic mining practices. The images used in this section are very effective in demonstrating why action must be taken to help the people of El Salvador. The use of the diagram showing the process of detoxifying the cyanide-polluted water is very helpful in demonstrating concretely how you plan to fix the issue, Great job on the layout and content overall.
This group does a good job of providing the background knowledge needed to understand just how bad the situation in in El Salvador. The poster effectively lays out the images and written sections to have the greatest impact. The group also does a good job of looking beyond the environmental effects of the pollution and analyzes how this could be impacting crime in the country.
First, this is a well-writien piece of prose that makes for an easy-to-read scientific presentation.
I also appreciate the organization of information and the clear linear structure of the poster. These structural elements guided me smoothly through the presentation.
This poster presents its information in a very well organized and articulate way. I found it interesting that this group was able to merge sociology and science-the suggested solutions dealt with chemistry, while still keeping social issues in mind. This group was highly effective in informing the audience of this major issue and proposing a solution to remediate it.
Your poster was very easy to read. It was great to see the progress that your poster made over the weeks. The charts were very helpful in understanding data. The picture of the contaminated river was gross but effective. You guys made the poster very easy to read by not putting an abundance of information, it was clear and to the point.
I loved how your approach on your issue differed from many of the other posters. The statistics are attention-grabbing and equally disturbing and clearly note how great the issue has become. The river image shows that the problems are not just over-exaggerated, but truly a very real very pressing issue that needs to be addressed. I also particularly liked the history section, giving a contextual background into how the issue arose (which is often ignored, but equally as crucial as the issue itself). The maps were very informative and easy to understand. Very well researched.
The image of the polluted water grabbed my attention immediately and made me want to keep reading your poster. Your solutions to the problem seem attainable since they are not expensive and the citizens of El Salvador are unlikely to oppose them. I especially liked the method of cyanide hydrolysis, since the products from this reaction are nontoxic and can be recycled.
The content of the poster provides a very holistic view of the pollution and socio-economic challenges in El Salvador. You guys also made a very convincing argument as to why the population of El Salvador should not be held liable for the pollution. The images are extremely powerful and really help show both the extent of pollution and the fact that the population is taking action. This project was very well done!
This poster was very well researched and presented clearly and effectively. I thought the pictures chosen were compelling and the methods thorough. I especially appreciated that this project studied the sociological challenges of the area in greater depth. I thought that the approach to remediation through first studying the systems of equality to be very instrumental in the final proposed solutions. I think this approach could actually benefit every clean-up process, and was very well-carried out in this project.
the current mining situation. Overall, the visuals were great in showing the issues facing El Salvador such as poverty in the area, the contamination, and the treatment process. I liked that you emphasized the sociological challenges in cleaning up the area, which is just as important as the effects of water pollution. It was refreshing to see more of an emphasis on the sociological issues, rather than just the science behind the contamination. Lastly, it was great to include two approaches to cleaning up the area.
I think the poster is great, but could have done with a little more images. After reading Lily’s comment it strikes out that this poster really does approach and view the issue outside of a scientific perspective which makes this poster ever more interesting to read. I am slightly curious about the CO2 being released into the water. This can create carbonic acid and acidify the water which still can be harmful to aquatic life. Is the amount of the HOCN in small enough quantities to prevent the overall acidification of the water after the final product is produced?
This is a very serious issue and also very sad. Its incredible that in New York we waste so much water. We throw away water that’s a day old, we throw away perfectly safe tap water for a Poland Spring, we leave the tap running while we brush our teeth. But in countries like El Salvador it’s more of a war to get clean, uncontaminated water. although your solutions are reasonable and thoughtful it is true that they are not within the financial means of the country. The government must fix the social factors in order to achieve a better environment for the people,
If the court does not rule in favor of El Salvador, what should the people do to mitigate the pollution caused by the companies? The suggestions are said to not be affordable for the government- what are affordable solutions?
This poster does a good job of documenting the negative environmental impacts of mining companies in El Salvador. The authors provided provided equal treatment in discussing the political climate of El Salvador in relations to mining as well as the public health degradation associated to water pollution.
However, the poster could have benefited from addressing the arguments against the suggested solutions. The three solutions, while innovative and seemingly adoptable, may run into political barriers. For example, companies may question the efficiency (technological cost and productivity) of Replacing Cyanide with Cornstarch.
Another concern is the connection between crime in El Salvador and mining pollution of waters. The connection between the two could have been expounded more. How does crime deter efforts for clean up? Or how does one factor increase the other, if they such relationship exist?
Other than those two concerns, the poster did an excellent job communicating technical and sociological information.
It is important to consider the socioeconomic impacts of limiting polluting industries, especially with the economic structure of these communities. There’s a lot of potential for community organizing and sustainable development here. Great work.
The idea to use carbon dioxide to remove the cyanide sounds good. It also seems like a feasible solution due to its low cost.
I really like this poster and how it is laid out. The current efforts section is a real eye opener to the problem and I think it is very important that this information was put on the poster. I think the issues El Salvador face as well as other poor countries should be addressed more because they really need help. I really like this poster and I hope the remediation processes help this country.
nice poster, congrats! Those indigenous people should inspire other country in taking actions against environmental pollution.
This poster did an excellent job of communicating an environmental problem, and how challenging it can be to address these problems when other issues, such as crime and corruption are entwined in them.
It seems as though the Pac Rim Cayman LLC v. El Salvador case has a lot of attention. Let’s hope the people of El Salvadore see justice.
The poster is informative and presents the materials in a very organized way. The suggested solutions are well defined. The graphs are informative.
The poster is organized nicely, but if you are going to write in bullet style sentence, put them in bullet points, not paragraphs. Otherwise I found the material interesting and the remediation solutions appealing. do you have a production cost analysis for the alternative methods of gold mining? if so, do they make economic scene? if they do, would not promoting that as a more cost effective method be a good way to start reducing the amount of cyanide in the environment. of course if it is not cost effective some one better find a different option because nothing ever works if it dose not make economic scenes.
What are the negatives of these implemented solutions?
You know this is a very interesting topic, because usually statistics are between the crime and environmental conditions.
The fact El Salvador had to bear the brunt of irresponsibility by companies from affluent countries to damage their living environment is unsettling. I only wonder what would be the fate of the people in El Salvador (and else where in other low income countries) that are being harmed should the legal proceeding don’t go in their favor.
Although the topic at hand is a big one and your poster adequately address the problem and your means to solve them I would have loved to see a more concise version.
although the solution works, compressing too much air into the river will change the conditions in the water, which may cause the imbalance in the water system.
Good job tackling a serious issue as water pollution in a poor country by prosperous industries. Would be sad to see the industry make money without being held responsible for water shortage.
It sounds really bad for El Salvador because the countries that I would usually think would come to aid are exploiting the the country. I hope to hear more about this trial. Hopefully El Salvador can get their water cleaned by the people who polluted it.