Secondary School Field Research Program

Each summer, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory’s Secondary School Field Research Program (SSFRP) brings together high school students, undergraduate mentors, and science teachers for six weeks of hands-on field and laboratory research at the Piermont Marsh, their outdoor classroom for the summer. This past summer, 10 TYWLS students took part in the program, with students coming from Astoria, Manhattan, and Queens. Melissa Shumer, a TYWLS Queens teacher, served as one of the program’s team leads working directly with our students.

Working in small mentoring teams, students began by reading and discussing scientific literature about the marsh before developing their own sampling protocols and research plans. From there, they collected samples and ran lab experiments on topics ranging from nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration to invasive plant management and even soil-powered batteries.