CCE Summer Internship Program

Internship Location: Cornell Cooperative Extension Chemung County

Faculty: Lindsay Goodale, Department of Animal Science

Student: Katie Callero

• Katie's Journal

Project Summary

Chemung County 4-H historically had a strong horse program with regional connections, but in recent years the horse program has waned, in part due to staff changes. Recently there has been an increased interest in the renewal of the regional horse program, and the region now has an opportunity to develop a strong equine educational program based on subject matter expertise at the county level. We are looking to provide education to both youth and club leaders, especially on current and emerging topics such as infectious disease epidemics in NYS, helmet safety, and concussion management. We are interested in developing training opportunities for equine volunteers to strengthen our volunteer base and enhance community participation. The two goals of the intern’s work in the county will be: 1) to implement a regional equine volunteer training day; and 2) to reinstate the inter-county youth educational and experiential equine experience, formerly called the "Inter-County Show."

Internship Location: CCE Erie office

Faculty: Antonio DiTommaso, SIPS - Soil and Crop Sciences

Student: Bethany Schulteis

• Bethany's Journal

Project Summary

The purpose of the internship is to work with Cornell's Agricultural Weed ID Network to develop training and outreach materials on weed identification and management for 4-H youth and families. Weeds are a growing problem for New York farmers, particularly with the arrival of two aggressive herbicide-resistant weeds, Palmer amaranth and waterhemp. Weed identification is a great way to teach detailed observation skills and critical thinking, and can significantly benefit 4-H families. This project would extend the weed identification information being developed by the Weed ID Network into the 4-H realm through survey of existing materials, survey of current weed knowledge of 4-H youth and families, and development of training courses/games and outreach materials for use throughout the New York 4-H network. The materials will be tested at 2020 county fairs in coordination with the Erie and surrounding county 4-H programs, and presented to the 4-H PWT.

The student will be fully supported from both campus and county collaborators. The campus mentor will meet weekly or bi-weekly with the student and county collaborator, and will attend one of the county fair events. The county collaborator and 4-H educator will guide the student through the data collection process, and both county and campus mentors will provide advice and feedback on material development. The intended outcome is a 4-H short course curriculum for weed identification with supporting outreach materials, tailored to New York's problem agricultural weeds and difficult-to-identify weed complexes.

Internship Location: CCE of Livingston County and NWNY Team

Faculty: Quirine Ketterings, Department of Animal Science

Student: Jacob Stanyard

• Jacob's Journal

Project Summary

Cornell Cooperative Extension NWNY Team Field Crops Specialists Jodi Putman and Mike Stanyard collaborate with the Nutrient Management Spear Program and other faculty programs at Cornell University on applied research and extension that aims to benefit field crop and dairy producers in a 9-county region of western New York. The CCE intern will help plan, conduct, analyze, and evaluate on-farm research with the team and participate in farmer education events focused on use of cover crops, nutrient management, and integrated pest management in field crop rotations. Cover cropping is increasingly done in the region, as farmers recognize the numerous benefits that cover crops can offer, but additional work is ongoing. A current study aims to determine:

1. the most effective fall cover crop planting rate to enable planting into the established cover crop the following spring, and
2. cover crop seed mixtures that minimize cost while maximizing beneficial impacts on soil health and farm productivity.

In addition to the research, the intern will be involved in a series of farmer discussion group meetings and Tactical Agriculture Team (TAg) meetings for producers concerning the acceleration and adoption of cover crops and soil health related beneficial management practices in New York.

Internship Location: City of Cortland and CCE Cortland County

Faculty: Sarah Giroux, Global Development

Student: Susan Armstrong

Project Summary

For many years, the 4-H Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cortland County has been based primarily on the traditional rural 4-H club model. While 4-H has always had a strong presence in rural areas, it has not had much of a presence within the county’s largest city-Cortland. To better serve a more diverse youth population in the city of Cortland, the 2019 internship will be a research project to determine programmatic needs and access points where 4-H can strengthen opportunities for youth development within the city.

The research will include consideration of projects from across other regions, within New York State, and a needs assessment for the City of Cortland. The goal is to increase opportunities for growth to youth populations who may not be familiar with, or have access to, traditional 4-H. This will include a review of the available opportunities of the Cortland Jr Fair as a showcase for youth development and approaches to increase relevance and interaction with youth housed within the city limits.

Internship Location: CCE-Chemung County

Faculty: Thomas A Hirschl, Global Development

Student: Ayesha Mohammed

Project Summary

The intern will gather interview data from Poverty Stoplight program participants and case-control subjects, and analyze the data to determine if there are program effects. The experimental design is case-control where each participant is matched by a demographically (age, race, gender) comparable subject from a nonparticipating census tract, all within the city of Elmira.

The outcomes will be comparisons on "poverty-free readiness" across the control and treatment groups, and analysis for a peer-reviewed research journal. Second, the analysis will be used to produce an extension bulletin on "new methods for fighting poverty in your local community."

Internship Location: CCE Chemung County

Faculty: Todd Schmit, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

Student: Alyssa Rhorda

Project Summary

CCE Chemung is involved in area farm market managing, promotion and by providing EBT support. Over the past years the markets have seen a decrease in overall participation on both sides of the table. Staff, with the assistance of this intern, will be working to assess the health of the farm market system by developing methods for meaningful evaluation and platforms for participant feedback. CCE would like to reach out to market managers, agriculture businesses and organizations to create collaborative effort in agriculture marketing in Chemung County. Through this effort, CCE hopes to determine the barriers preventing farmer engagement, strengthen networks and develop best practices in reaching consumers. 4-H in Chemung County has seen the same stagnant participation in buyers at the 4-H Livestock Sale. 4-H is interested in developing auction best practices, to improve education for potential buyers and increase marketing for overall sale improvement.

Through the work done in this internship CCE Chemung hopes to

1. asses the overall health of farm market and agriculture purchasing opportunities in Chemung County and
2. develop best practices that bring local community buyers to agriculture purchasing opportunities.

Internship Location: CCE Lawrence County, Extension Learning Farm - 2043B State Highway 68, Canton, NY 13617

Faculty: Michael L. Thonney, Department of Animal Science

Student: Lindsey McKernan

Project Summary

The ewes in the Extension Learning Farm flock lamb at the end of April/early May and then are put on pasture with their lambs. Normally the lambs are left with the ewes until they are 100 days old, but infection with internal parasites often slows growth or causes severe anemia unless the lambs are dewormed frequently. This experiment will compare profitability of weaning half the lambs by about 60 days of age, dewormed based on their degree of infection with Haemonchus contortus by FAMACHA scoring, and self-feeding them in the barn compared with the other half left on their mothers on pasture. Growth rates, health, lamb losses, labor and feed contributing to cost of gain, market price, and overhead cost of keeping the lambs on pasture longer will be compared to provide recommendations to lamb producers.

Internship Location: CCE Delaware County, Watershed Agricultural Program Office

Faculty: Karl Czymmek, Senior Extension Associate, PRODAIRY Program, Department of Animal Science

Student: Mikala Anderson

• Mikala's Journal

Project Summary

The New York City Watershed Agricultural Program works closely with over 200 farms on implementing best management practices. The CCE staff coordinates efforts in nutrient management, addressing both animal feeding, the source of most nutrients managed in the watershed, and management of manure and fertilizers. Over the course of time the program has amassed a large volume of soil test phosphorus data, as well as information on manure application to fields and animal feed rations. The CCE Delaware Team has been collaborating with the Nutrient Management Spear Program at Cornell for several years collecting whole farm Nutrient Mass Balance (NMB) data.

This project involves collecting additional NMBs for farms in the watershed, and evaluating if trends in soil test phosphorus results and field manure management records, align with NMB data. This analysis will support the advancement in on-farm management decision tools like the New York Phosphorus Index used for nutrient management planning in the state

Internship Location: Suffolk County

Faculty: Laura Harrington, Department of Entomology

Student: Elyssa Pergola

• Elyssa's Journal

Project Summary

The Suffolk County Department of Public Works (SC DPW) Division of Vector Control is in the third year of field efficacy trials of tick control products and development of their tick surveillance program. The surveillance program is intended to inform the County’s and others’ responses to growing tick populations, incidence of tick-borne disease, and the expanding presence of the invasive Asian longhorned tick. In addition to efficacy assessments of specific tick control products, field trials will provide additional data following a standardized protocol to more accurately determine control and best tick management strategies based upon objective comparisons among products, application rates and other variables such as timing and environmental conditions.

Around the Northeast, most effort has focused on deer (blacklegged) tick; work on Long Island also includes studies on lone star ticks, which are now abundant in eastern Suffolk County. As the range of this species has now expanded to western Long Island, parts of CT, RI and MA, this work is expected to be of particular interest as human encounters in other areas increase.

In CCE of Suffolk County staff are cooperating with the Suffolk County Dept. of Public Works (SC DPW) Tick Entomologist on tick-related work where there is very strong interest from residents and commercial landscape care professionals.

Internship Location: Albion, Orleans County

Faculty: Thomas Björkman

Student: Taran Bauer

• Taran's Journal

Project Summary

The project has two goals. The first is to better understand new broccoli hybrids that are better adapted to the New York climate. This project will evaluate how they perform in commercial production relative to the current best, as part of a multistate Eastern Broccoli Project. The second component involves field trials optimizing onion production, particularly on highly fertile muck soils in the face of weed, insect and disease pressure.

Internship Location: Ithaca, NY

Faculty: Jeff Perry, Global Development

Student: Stephen Robertshaw

• Stephen's Journal

Project Summary

In February of 2018, the staff of the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program in collaboration with counterparts at the University of Missouri and the Iowa Soybean Association developed a protocol for yield monitor data cleaning. The protocol was needed as raw yield monitor data contain errors related to the technology and its use in the field, and without data cleaning, reported yields can be off by 1-2 tons/acre and 5-10 bu/acre. When data cannot be trusted, farmers are unlikely to base management decisions on such data, so implementation of a data cleaning protocol is essential.

Training sessions with professionals this past year have illustrated the need for curriculum development for teaching of the protocol. In addition, we have been approached by a high school agriculture teacher for a curriculum that would allow their students to learn about yield data collection and cleaning. Thus, the proposed CCE internship project is to develop a high school and extension curriculum for corn yield data collection and processing, as well as the generation of farm-specific yield summaries. The 2019 internship allows the student to learn about field-crop based precision agriculture in general, understand yield monitoring equipment, data collection, and data cleaning, and learn about and implement educational approaches that facilitate learning for students and certified crop advisors. In addition to working on the project, the student will also get exposed to all other aspects of precision agriculture research in our team including data collection with active crop sensors, unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones), satellite imagery, and field-based soil and plant sampling and analyses, and get greater insights in teaching an agricultural curriculum at a high school through collaboration with two high schools, one in western and one in central NY.

The internship, based in Ithaca, will include travel to meet with field crop educators and certified crop advisors statewide with more frequent travel to western and central NY for work with CCE and local high school agriculture teachers.

Internship Location: Primary worksite: CCE Broome, Binghamton, NY Field work will take place in Broome County towns and neighboring counties

Faculty: Susan B. Hoskins, Soil and Crop Sciences

Students: Alex Ding and Robert Sanchez

• Alex's Journal
• Robert's Journal

Project Summary

The 4-H Geospatial Science and Technology Program trains educators and youth leaders to use tools of mapmaking: GPS collected data, Geographic Information System software and remotely sensed aerial and satellite images. Using these skills, 4-H educators guide youth in undertaking community mapping projects. One of the focus areas of the Program is Roadside Ditch Mapping for watershed management.

The 4-H Geospatial team in Section of Soil and Crop Sciences is partnering with Natural Resources and Biological and Environmental Engineering Departments to develop a 4-H curriculum consisting of activities that will culminate in local roadside ditch maps. Research indicates that rural towns in New York lack access to roadside ditch condition data; information that is essential for making stewardship decisions. Through roadside ditch mapping projects, youth learn about watershed science and management, demonstrate the value of citizen science generated data to local decision makers, and become familiar with their local government officials and highway services.

Internship Location: CCE Schuyler office at 323 Owego St; Montour Falls, NY

Faculty: John Losey, Department of Entomology

Student: Ben DeMoras

• Ben's Journal

Project Summary

Beneficial insects including predators that keep pests in check and pollinators that help plants make fruits and seeds are essential for healthy, productive gardens. The broad objectives of this project will be to work with a summer intern to develop and disseminate a diverse set of tools for gardeners, that will help them effectively release, and/or attract and sustain beneficial insects, especially one key group of predators, ladybugs. A particular focus will be nine-spotted ladybug, our New York state insect that is listed as a “species of greatest conservation concern” by the NYDEC. In addition to release of ladybugs, best practices for attracting and sustaining ladybugs through provision of preferred plant species, and the utilization of “ladybug food” and “ladybug houses” will be evaluated. This project will build on the success of a summer internship program from 2017 and complement efforts of an ongoing Smith-Lever project. This project will address the growing Interest in gardening throughout New York working through CCE to explore the most innovative avenues through which to educate and inspire citizens. Demonstration Gardens have proven to be successful arenas for a number of types of learning opportunities. Schuyler CCE has identified the need for continuing a strengthened approach to a local demonstration garden as a way to help hundreds of local residents learn more about horticulture, and area educators learn from our success. The summer intern will,

1. educate adult and youth gardeners on how to release and attract more ladybugs and other beneficial insects to their gardens through garden events, workshops, garden tours,
2. cultivate communication skills among our Master Gardeners to facilitate youth engagement in ladybug garden projects
3. plant, maintain, and assess a ladybug habitat at the CCE Schuyler Teaching Garden.

To support these activities, the intern will write articles on the LLP and beneficial in the landscape for sending to media outlets and produce educational flyers and handouts developed for the teaching garden and beyond. Finally, the intern will share the results of the approach through diverse documentation which will include a web-based success story, to be distributed through CCE News and the Cornell Garden-Based Learning Blog; and potentially host a regional workshop to share with other CCE educators.

• More information on the Schuyler CCE Teaching Garden

Internship Location: Broome, Chemung, Cortland, Onondaga, Tioga and Tompkins Counties

Faculty: Jennifer Ifft, Department of Applied Economics and Management

Student: Carolyn Wright

• Carolyn's Journal

Program Summary

When farm operators fail to plan for the transfer of business assets and management to the next generation, it exposes their business to human, financial and legal risks that can threaten farm viability. However, less than one third of U.S. farms have a succession plan in place (Harris and Mishra, 2016). Despite survey data and anecdotal evidence documenting a need for succession planning, our South Central NY Dairy and Field Crops Team was not able to generate enough farmer demand to run a Succession Planning Workshop in 2019. This project will identify educational priorities and strategies to equip farmers with knowledge and skills to navigate the succession planning process. The CALS Summer Intern will play a lead role in gathering information from dairy farmers and evaluating producer demand for specific educational content and delivery strategies, including online learning.

Short-term project outcomes will include a written report and a presentation summarizing key findings and recommendations. Impacts of this project will continue beyond the scope of the internship, as CCE staff will draw on the needs assessment to develop an Extension Risk Management Education grant proposal and to inform future program development.

Internship Location: Albany, NY

Student: Oluwafunke Akinkouolie

• Oluwafunke's Journal

Program Summary

The project will assist the Farmers Market Nutrition Program for the 2020 season. The Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is a federal nutrition program administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM) with the goals to 1) increase access to select New York State (“local”) produce items by eligible seniors and participants of the Women Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program (WIC) and 2) expand awareness and use of farmers’ markets. As there are different target populations of FMNP, there are therefore two funding streams. The FMNP is comprised of the Senior FMNP (SFMNP) and WIC FMNP.

The intended outcome for the student is to work with the team to ensure a successful benefits program season for the most extensive Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program in the country.

Internship Location: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wyoming County

Faculty: Jennifer Ifft, Department of Applied Economics and Management

Student: Emily Boldt

• Emily's Journal

Project Summary

Wyoming County New York is updating their Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan, originally created in 2005. The plan is used by the County’s Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board and the Board of Supervisors as they consider policy to support agriculture’s contribution to the local economy and landscape. As part of that process, data will be gathered from farmers, agricultural landowners, and support businesses to identify the threats to and opportunities for a vibrant agriculture in the community. This data will be summarized along with historical information about agriculture’s contribution to Wyoming County. Focus groups will be conducted with agricultural stakeholders to review the data gathered and identify actions to stabilize and strengthen agricultural businesses in the county.

Lastly, the Farmland Protection Steering Committee will identify priority actions to support farmland protection and the agricultural community in Wyoming County.

Internship Location: New York City (NYC), Cornell University Cooperative Extension-NYC

Faculty: Tashara M. Leak, PhD, RD, Division of Nutritional Sciences

Student: Vidushi Tripathi

• Vidushi's Journal

Program Summary

Culturally tailored nutrition interventions can significantly improve health outcomes but have largely focused on Mexican American populations, leaving other Latino groups, prevalent in urban areas like New York City (NYC), understudied. Existing nutrition education curricula (e.g., Eating Smart * Being Active; Health Children, Healthy Families; or others frequently used by Cornell Cooperative Extension nutrition educators) could be translated and modified to meet the cultural needs of NYC Latinos. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), such as smartphone applications, could provide additional informational and social support; they are accepted and effective in delivering nutrition education to diverse audiences and their use continues to increase among Latinos. Formative work determining factors that impact diet quality and weight status among Latina mothers of young children in NYC is critical to inform the development of a culturally tailored, ICT enhanced intervention.

To achieve this, qualitative interviews and surveys will be conducted with

1. Latina women (18-49 years old) who have young children (0-3 years old) and
2. community members who engage with this group (e.g., nutrition educators, clinicians, social workers).

For example, mothers will be asked about what types of ICTs they would be open to use and features of the application that would encourage their engagement. The results of the interviews will be corroborated through surveys conducted with the same aforementioned individuals, which will determine the most prevalent nutrition-related issues and needs of this group. The qualitative interviews and surveys will be executed June 1 through July 31, 2020. Results will inform the development of a culturally tailored nutrition education intervention, enhanced with ICTs that aims to improve diet quality and weight status of Latina mothers and their young children in NYC.

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Faculty: Wendy Wolfe, Division of Nutritional Sciences

Student: Dylan Ratnarajah

• Dylan's Journal

Program Summary

The Family & Youth Development and Nutrition & Health program areas of Cornell University Cooperative Extension in NYC (CUCE-NYC), in collaboration with Dr. Wendy Wolfe at Cornell University, would like to build upon the dynamic Choose Health Action Teen (CHAT) initiative that was implemented in NYC in the summers of 2018 and 2019, with CHE Summer Interns playing a key role. In 2018, interns helped train 6 teens from throughout the city to teach Cornell’s Choose Health: Food, Fun and Fitness (CHFFF) curriculum to 150 children at 7 different sites, most not in the teens’ own communities.

Internship Location: New York City

Faculty: Saleh Kalantari, Department of Design and Environmental Analysis

Student: Joanna Moon

• Joanna's Journal

Program Summary

Workspaces have been associated with significant negative health impacts, primarily mediated by increased levels of stress, physical inactivity, mood disruption, and poor diet. In addition to the unnecessary human suffering resulting from these impacts, the financial costs are staggering, both in terms of healthcare expenses, and a decrease in job satisfaction and productivity. There is some evidence that improved office designs can alleviate these effects, promoting greater worker health, satisfaction, and productivity. However, as is the case with nearly all architectural design research, the evidence for these findings rests primarily on small-scale studies using methods of self-reporting through surveys and interviews.

Obtaining more rigorous, objective information about the human impacts of specific office-design variables (i.e., comparative biometric data about stress levels and mental focus in different office designs) can therefore make a strong contribution to improving human health and economic outcomes, and alter the future of work for design professionals and their customers. Our mobile wearable technology will streamline the process of obtaining more rigorous human-response data, and will thus support stronger scientific approaches in the field of design evaluation. Our testing platform incorporates noninvasive scalp electroencephalography (EEG), head motion, electrocardiography (ECG), and measurements of galvanic skin response (GSR), blood pressure, and body temperature, along with integrated video recording of participant behaviors.

We will conduct two studies to investigate human responses to common design variables such as different workstation layout conditions (Study A) and different lighting and window view conditions (Study B).

Internship Location: Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City (CUCE)

Faculty: Marianella Casasola, Dept. of Human Development

Student: Radiah Khandokar

•  Radiah's Journal

Program Summary

Our project combines a research study and a parent education training. Our research team has been studying parental beliefs about young children's learning and the role of play in this learning. The study is designed to document how parental beliefs about learning during play may contribute to cognitive outcomes and later academic achievement. In particular, we explore if parental beliefs shape their choice of play materials and the educational value parents place on these toys. We study if these beliefs vary with parent education and socio-economic status (SES). As an intended outcome, our team is working with CUCE-NYC on disseminating the research findings to develop an 8-week parent education curriculum about the role of play in early childhood learning. The curriculum is designed for parents and caregivers of children 2-5 years old.

Internship Location: Orange County/Orange County Cooperative Extension

Faculty: Laura Tach, Department of Policy Analysis and Management

Student: Esther Akapo

• Esther's Journal

Project Summary

A substantial body of literature documents strong correlations between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and negative outcomes across the life course. Research also points toward several strategies for cultivating resilience as a means of mitigating some of these negative effects. The Orange County Resilience Working Group, led by Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County, is a team of diverse stakeholders working throughout Orange County to raise awareness about ACEs and create more trauma-sensitive institutions and services that foster resilience in their community. The goal of our summer project is to help Orange County evaluate the success of these efforts. More specifically, the CHE-CCE intern would help stakeholders evaluate

1. how effective outreach and education efforts are at increasing community awareness about ACEs and
2. whether specific trauma-sensitive reforms in education, health, and social service sectors generate positive outcomes for community members.

Internship Location: The interns will be in residence in Ithaca and will coordinate with CCE of Tompkins County to develop local program delivery sites.

Faculty: Valerie Reyna, Human Development Professor and Department Extension Leader

Students: Theodora Kouloglou and Courtney Landis

• Courtney's Journal 

Project Summary

Cooperative Extension educates the public more about food safety than any other organization and their educators work to improve public awareness of quality, safe, and affordable agricultural products. However, efforts to expand awareness, acceptance and adoption of foods grown and/or processed with modern food safety technology, often face consumer apprehension and resistance. Our research aims to show how differences in information representation can alter perception, understanding, and acceptance of modern foods grown and/or treated by modern food safety technologies, including pasteurized and unpasteurized dairy and genetically engineered (GMO) foods. Understanding factors that influence decision-making processes in assessing potential risks for a given food will result in more effective economic decision-making for food purchases, increased skills and knowledge for healthy, accessible, and affordable food choices that assure greater food security. We have been studying how people perceive vaccination risk and we want to compare these perceptions to risk perceptions of GMO foods.

The intern will help us develop a survey, recruit community groups and give them a survey measuring memory for presented information and other knowledge and attitude tests, plus fuzzy trace theory concepts. Also, the intern will work with our CCE partner to identify community engagement strategies for our outreach goals.

Internship Location: Jefferson, CUCE-NYC, Orange, and Tompkins

Faculty: Karl Pillemer, Department of Human Development

Student: Rohit Agarwal

• Rohit's Journal

Program Summary

The intern will work with the Cornell Family Reconciliation Project. This outreach program is developing and testing ways to help families overcome estrangement. We will work with the Cooperative Extension system to conduct applied research and develop interventions around family estrangement, building around other CE program experience around stressful family relationships. The project will create evidence-based programs for overcoming estrangement, which in turn is likely to reduce the suffering of affected relatives and contribute to building stronger families in NYS and nationwide.

Internship Location: New York Sea Grant; Stony Brook University, Suffolk County

Student: Pierson Ohr

• Pierson's Journal

Project Summary

Rip currents are considered to be the deadliest hazard to users at ocean beaches. Although many beachgoers have heard the term rip current, not many understand the physical processes occurring and how to escape the grip and return safely to shore. The goal of this project would be to gain an understanding of beachgoer’s knowledge of rip currents on New York's ocean beaches, educate stakeholders about the dangers, and provide safety information. This project will utilize survey materials, educational materials, and virtual reality simulations.

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Student: Camilla Bacolod

• Camilla's Journal

Project Summary

This undergraduate summer internship will focus on completing and submitting Roosevelt Island’s application to be certified as a NYS Climate Smart Community. The student will work in close collaboration with a community engagement committee brought together in response to a OEI planning grant submitted by CUCE-NYC and Cornell Tech that includes Cornell Tech students, leaders of community organizations committed to sustainability, staff from the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), and other partners.

Internship Location: CCE Dutchess County

Student: Tien Vo

• Tien's Journal

Project Summary

New York State’s targets for emissions reductions are ambitious and fast-approaching. Passed in 2019, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates 100% economy-wide net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Meeting these targets will require a rapid scaling-up and increase in productivity of existing energy efficiency and clean energy programs in each sector. Thus the CLCPA also mandates a 35% minimum allocation of investments from clean energy and energy efficiency funds directed towards disadvantaged communities.

To service the full scope of eligible populations, a variety of targeted outreach and marketing strategies are needed to grow awareness and adoption of available programs. In this context, the Mid-Hudson Community Energy Engagement Program (CEEP) is looking to engage one or more interns to research social determinants to participation in energy efficiency and clean energy programs, test marketing/outreach strategies for program uptake, and make recommendations that the Mid-Hudson CEEP program can implement and disseminate.

Internship Location: CCE Tompkins County

Faculty: Laura Tach, Department of Policy Analysis and Management

Student: Matthew Sheen

• Matthew's Journal

Project Summary

Parenting education programs are primarily developed from a dominant culture lens, which disregards unique needs of racially/ethnically diverse families. This may leave parenting programs inaccessible to families of color, the most rapidly growing population in the U.S. The goals of this project include the following: - Analyze research-based parenting education programs, assessing for cultural humility, unconscious bias, and inclusivity for diverse populations, particularly people of color. - Develop briefs to help CCE educators across New York (and beyond) increase their ability to critically assess parenting education programs through a lens of cultural humility.

Internship Location: CCE Ontario

Student: Andrew Nkubito

• Andrew's Journal

Project Summary

CCE Ontario owns and operates 4-H Camp Bristol Hills, which has 123 acres. 80 of these acres were obtained through a gift from a neighbor that are primarily undeveloped. The property currently contains a one acre leach field, two barns, and an archery range. We are interested in developing a master plan on how best to use the property to enhance the educational programs offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County.

Internship Location: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County

Faculty: Heather Kolakowski, Hotel Administration

Student: Emily Lasher

• Emily's Journal

Project Summary

The nutrition sustainability program in Warren County is a hands-on, kinesthetic learning opportunity that combines evidence-based research with practical application. The county in which our office resides is primarily rural, with a high percentage of low-income residents. As the rural landscape lends well to providing food, if an individual has the knowledge of how to do so, our program focuses on the farm and field to table model. We instruct community members in several vegetable gardening techniques, including planning, planting, weeding, and harvesting, as well as what to do with that produce once it is harvested.

Other associative programs include food preservation and cooking classes, with an emphasis on hands-on techniques that can empower people to safely store and consume their produce. Another facet of this is the incorporation of wild game and fish into an individual’s diet, so we offer classes that help to bring people into the outdoors, and then provide the information as to what they should do once they acquire wild game or fish. As education is useless unless the learner is engaged enough to implement what they have learned, these programs also include many fun, hands-on, interactive games.

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Student: Yosief Kidane and Stefan Engquist

• Stefan's Journal

Project Summary

The summer intern will work with stakeholders on Roosevelt Island, NYC, to explore and address one of the key questions surfaced by the “Engaged Roosevelt Island” working group: What is the potential capacity to expand Roosevelt Island’s use of renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal and tidal)?

The student will work in close collaboration with the community engagement committee (“Engaged Roosevelt Island” working group) brought together in response to a OEI planning grant submitted by CUCE-NYC and Cornell Tech that includes Cornell Tech students, leaders of community organizations committed to sustainability, staff from the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), and other partners.

Internship Location: CCE Ulster County, CCE Columbia-Greene, CCE Dutchess County

Students: Madison Albano, Wendy Lau, and Seth Bollinger

• Madison's Journal
• Wendy's Journal
• Seth's Journal

Project Summary

Within Ulster County, the rural-urban divide is deeply felt. The ecological, historical, agricultural and cultural history and diversity of Ulster and surrounding counties offers a fascinating window in to this divide. Our region is experiencing another uptick in interest, including the Catskills being named as the #2 destination to visit in the world by Lonely Planet in 2019. With this increased interest comes deepening divisions and new possibilities. The Rural Humanities project can help us to make sure multi-faceted stories are told about the latest chapter in our region’s history, together with all its antecedents. Ulster County 4-H and surrounding counties are very motivated to create new partnerships within Cornell that tell the untold stories of our region and communicate commonalities that bridge this divide.

Internship Location: Monroe County

Faculty: Bryan Duff

Student: Karina Villarroel

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Madison County

Faculty: Lindsay Goodale

Student: Harlee Price

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Tompkins County

Faculty: Anu Rangarajan, Horticulture-SIPs and Andrea Stevenson Won, Communications

Student: Michael Schwartz

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Hudson Valley, NY (Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program)

Faculty: Dr. Brian Nault

Student: Olivia Matteo

Internship Location: CCE Genesee County

Faculty: Larry Smart

Internship Location: CCE Steuben and Steuben County sites

Faculty: Susan B. Hoskins

Student: Matthew Kwok

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Erie County

Faculty: Marcia Eames-Sheavly

Student: Clara Stilwell

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Newark, NY, CCE Wayne County

Faculty: Todd M. Schmit

Student: Stephanie Neitlich

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Harvest NY, Urban Agriculture Program, Brooklyn, NY

Faculty: Dr. Anu Rangarajan

Student: Jesse Corona

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Hudson Valley and ENY

Faculty: Elson Shields

Internship Location: Suffolk County

Faculty: Laura Harrington

Student: Ariana Stephen

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Ontario County

Faculty: Richard Stup

Student: Lucas Smith

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Primarily, Orange County. But may also be in Ulster, Sullivan & Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester & Rockland if hemp production occurs in these counties in ’19.

Faculty: Christine Smart

Student: Johanna Gertin

• Student Journal

Internship Location: NYS Ag & Markets, Albany, NY

Internship Location: Project is statewide. Given the intern will work with extension in western and northern NY and travel to farms in central and eastern NY as well, the worksite location is in Ithaca, New York, with frequent trips to especially western and northern NY.

Faculty: Quirine Ketterings

Student: Ben Lehman

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Cornell Cooperative Extension- Harvest NY Urban Agriculture Program (Fort Greene, Brooklyn) 55 Hanson Place Suite 350 Brooklyn, NY 11217

Faculty: Anu Rangarajan

Student: Yahnah Woodby

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE of Schuyler County and CCE Hidden Valley Camp

Faculty: Laura Harrington

Student: Hannah Rosenthal

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Rockland County CCE; Chautauqua County CCE

Faculty: Karl Pillemer

Student: Micaela Moravek

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Tompkins County/CCE Tompkins office

Faculty: Valerie Reyna

Student: Nnamdi Igwe

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Wayne County

Faculty: Rebecca Seguin

Student: Ciara Roche

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Faculty: Wendy Wolfe

Student: Emma Dhimitri

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Faculty: Wendy Wolfe

Student: Adjoa Fosuhema-Kordie

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Ithaca

Faculty: Saleh Kalantari

Student: Vidushi Tripathi

• Student Journal

Internship Location: NYC

Faculty: Saleh Kalantari

Student: Julia Kan

• Student Journal

Internship Location: NYC

Faculty: Marianella Casasola

Student: Tatiana Blechman

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CU Campus and CCE County offices

Faculty: Kimberly Kopko

Student: Jessica Lindenstraus

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Work may be undertaken anywhere, with site visits to selected County offices such as Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Schoharie and Allegany.

Faculty: Sharon Tennyson

Student: Molly Bergin

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Tompkins and Ulster Counties

Faculty: Laura Tach

Student: Rose Ippolito

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Oneida County

Faculty: Abigail Cohn, Department of Linguistics, The College of Arts & Sciences

Student: Lauren Kessler

• Lauren's Journal

Internship Location: CCE Rockland County 

Faculty: Valerie Aymer, Department of Landscape and Architecture

Student: Tingyue Tan

• Tingyue's Journal

Internship Location: CCE Warren County

Faculty: Heather Kolakowski, Operations, Technology and Information Management, The Hotel School

Student: Jianxin Huo

• Jianxin's Journal

Internship Location: CCE Chemung County

Faculty: Rachel Weil

Student: Jack Mahoney

• Jack's Journal

Internship Location: Cornell University with focus on community resources in Tompkins County and surrounding regions.

Faculty: Rebecca Seguin, PhD, Division of Nutritional Sciences

Student: Drew Valentine

• Student Journal

Internship Location: New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Division of Animal Industry, Albany, NY

Internship Location: CCE Madison

Faculty: Lindsay Goodale, DVM

Internship Location: CCE Madison County (Morrisville, NY)

Faculty: Allison Chatrchyan

Student: Tyler Brewer

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Chemung County and CCE Tioga County

Faculty: Todd Schmit

Student: Hailey Pipher

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Chemung County and CCE Tioga County

Faculty: Todd Schmit

Student: Anna Birn

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Clinton

Faculty: Miguel Gomez

Student: Tyler Baisi

• Student Journal

Internship Location: TBD

Faculty: Dr. Gary Bergstrom

Student: Amanda Bond

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Nassau County, Horticulture Center Demonstration & Community Gardens at East Meadow Farm

Faculty: Lori Brewer

Student: Martha Williams

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Saratoga County/ CapMo PRISM

Faculty: Mark Whitmore

Student: Lily-Anne Trainor

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Essex County

Faculty: John Sanderson

Internship Location: CCE Nassau Dorthy P. Flint 4-H Camp, Long Island Horticulture Research and Extension Center

Faculty: Dr. Anu Rangarajan and Dr. Mark Bridgen

Student: Raul Campo-Lizama

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Work will be conducted primarily in the 10 county region of the NWNY CCE Team.

Faculty: Quirine Ketterings

Student: Madeline Kinnear

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Long Island Welcome Center/Taste of NY Market Place

Faculty: Eugene Won

Student: Susanna Oskinski

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Tompkins County

Faculty: Anu Rangarajan, Horticulture Section, School of Integrated Plant Science

Student: Jane Kim

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Suffolk, Suffolk County Dept. of Public Works Vector Control

Faculty: Laura Harrington

Student: Bailey Willett

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Cornell University with focus on community resources in Tompkins County and surrounding regions

Faculty: Kimberly Kopko, PhD, Policy Analysis and Management, John Sipple, PhD, Department of Development Sociology

Student: Spencer Kendall & Kaitlyn Sbrollini

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC

Faculty: Michael Timmons

Student: Bronte Zhang

• Student Journal

Internship Location: New York City

Faculty: Anu Rangarajan, Horticulture Section, School of Integrated Plant Science

Student: Katherine Rogers

• Student Journal

Student: Christian Kanlian

• Student Journal

Student: Brian Byun

• Student Journal

Student: Mason Leist

• Student Journal

Internship Location: TBD (NNY, CNY, WNY) Centrally located in Ithaca, Shields Laboratory

Faculty: Elson Shields

Student: Matt Chartrand

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Cortland County, CCE Albany County, CCE Jefferson County

Faculty: Gary Evans and David Just

Student: Lucie Fan

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Faculty: Wendy Wolfe

Student: Rythika Francis

• Student Journal

Internship Location: Mainly Ithaca, with work in Watkins Glen (4-H Camp Hidden Valley), CCE Schuyler County and CCE Tompkins County

Faculty: Valerie Reyna

Student: James Kim

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Madison County and CCE Wayne County offices

Faculty: Rebecca Seguin

Student: Erin Kehoe

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CUCE-NYC Office

Faculty: Tashara Leak

Student: Athena Wong

• Student Journal

Internship Location: CCE Jefferson County

Faculty: Kimberly Kopko

Student: Rosaleen Morgan

• Student Journal

Internship Location: New York City, CUCE-NYC Office

Faculty: Marianella Casasola

Student: Johanna O'Reilly

• Student Journal