CURB is excited to welcome Akhila Gopal, PhD, as our new Endeavor Community Engagement & Environmental Science Fellow! This unique 2-year fellowship involves teaching one course per semester at the college in environmental science and working half-time at CURB as a scientific advisor and instructor for educational programs for students of all ages. Akhila comes to us with a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, with doctoral research focused on the life history and behavioral thermophysiology of desert lizards. Alongside her research, she has spent the past decade working with organizations across the country in informal science education and community outreach, helping students and community members engage with science, explore their local ecosystems, and learn about the wildlife around them. The fellowship is made possible through the generous support of Endeavor Foundation.
News & Events
CURB Research Cited After 4th of July Weekend Sewage Pollution Debacle
CURB collected and processed dozens of water samples with the help of staff, volunteers, and our Blue Team students.
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🐠Cool fish alert!🐠
We've had 2 recent inshore lizardfish catches- just a little over a week apart.
While their native range reaches up to Massachusetts, it has been a rarer find in the Hudson River due to preferences for warmer and saltier coastal waters.
Swipe to learn more about this small but mighty ambush predator!
We always love hearing about our past students doing amazing things! Congrats to Brieanna Boateng, Blue Team ‘23 and Blue Team Mentor ‘24, for completing The Institute Discovering Environmental Scientists (TIDES) program! Stationed at Bard College, she researched the Saw Kill, a tributary to the Hudson in Northern Dutchess County. Her research group, the Fish Team, studied how diversity varies between different habitats in the Downstream Tidal Mouth using traditional rod and reel and an electrofishing backpack. She even got to sail on the Sloop Clearwater!
“My favorite part was definitely electrofishing! We documented 17 species including killifish, shiners, bass, carp, and eels.”, said Brieanna, adding, “Developing our team research question was challenging, but my past experiences at CURB prepared me well for the internship.”
The TIDES program is sponsored by our friends at the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve and the @nysdec Hudson River Estuary Program.
It would not be August without some Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor educator workshops with @nysdec ! We had a great day @slccurb starting with greetings from this feisty blue crab, and this wonderfully ‘whiskered’ black drum, before collecting fish to ID, mud to examine, measure water chemistry and assessing our surroundings!
#hudsonriver #dayinthelife #fieldscience #nature #fish
Congratulations to our summer Blue Team for organizing and planning another successful outreach celebration event!
Approximately 200 community members attended the event which included a detailed presentation summarizing the students’ research and experience during their six weeks at CURB, followed by student led activities across the park. Attendees built rubber bands propellered boats, turned t-shirts into works of art with tie dye, posed with their loved ones at the selfie station, accessorized some nautical themed hair clips and even got a chance to meet some of our turtle species up close at the waterfront! Partner group Groundwork Hudson Valley received community input about heat areas in Yonkers at their station, and local water quality sampler Kevin shared the beauty of oysters and their importance to the Hudson River ecosystem. It was a perfect way to culminate a summer full of learning.
We thank everyone who was able to support our students throughout this summer, including the Yonkers Paddling and Rowing Club who took the Blue Team kayaking earlier this week!
@yonkerskayaking
@groundwork_hv
On Monday July 27th, Blue Team took part in their first ever Restoration Day! Watch our reel to learn more about the process and importance of the project!
A huge thanks to Kevin on behalf of Blue Team for his help! 🦪🦪
#oysters #hudsonriver #restorationday
Week 4 of Blue Team is complete! This week our interns participated in a meeting with the Westchester Coalition for Clean Water @wc_clean_water, an exciting first for our program, and asked many insightful questions about Environmental Justice in our community! Cohort A went seining, where they caught many species (including 6 blue crabs). All interns also took a look at our science research poster, providing final feedback! We did some prep work for our exciting oyster restoration project set to take place next Monday (stay tuned to learn and see more)!
Blue Team has also been hard at work taking samples and making materials for the Blue Team Bash on August 8th! Can’t wait to see you all there! Register today, link in bio!
#hudsonriver #blueteam #waterquality
And just like that, we are officially halfway through the 2026 Blue Team internship!
During Week 3, interns went to Sarah Lawrence College’s ecology lab to learn about how molecular biology lab techniques are used in environmental monitoring! Beyond continuing their event planning and taking some more samples, interns also prepared for two very exciting firsts in Blue Team history: participating in a Hudson restoration project and a meeting with the Westchester Coalition for Clean Water in the upcoming weeks! In preparation, they learned about the history of oysters in New York and prepared some questions to bring to the meeting!
Thanks again to @slc_ecologylab for having us and teaching our interns!
(Don’t forget to RSVP to Blue Team’s Hudson River Bash: Exploring Waterway Wonders!! 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝)
Blue Team Week 2 is on the books!!
This week, interns completed their second set of samples, did some community building by identifying fish and began planning our community event day!
Our event is titled “Blue Team’s Hudson River Bash: Exploring Waterway Wonders!” and will take place on Saturday, August 8th from 12-3pm!!
Be sure to RSVP (link is on our Linktree)! We hope to see you all there! 𓆝 𓆟 𓆝
SLC Blue Team is back for 2026! During their first week, interns focused on learning about the waste water infrastructure in Yonkers and environmental justice. They also became familiar with the water sample collection and processing techniques to assess the quantity of fecal indicator bacteria, enterococcus, in our waters.
🌊Stay up to date for more news on Blue Team's research and our community event taking place on Saturday August 8th from 12p-3p! 🐟
#hudsonriver #environmentaleducation #waterquality