Kevin Woo's: Faculty Webpage

A band from my youth, with a fairly recent song in my head (also feeling a bit SDRR). Enjoy.

It’s been a while since I’ve put up new news. But, today is the day, and although we’re in the late registration period, students can still register for the following studies – all great, all awesome. Contact me if you’re interested in registering for any of these studies.

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Green Pens & Thumbs: Writing & Practicing Urban Sustainability in New York City

Co-taught with Dr. Karyn Pilgrim (Metro), this study intends to immerse students in urban sustainability, from an ecological, cultural, and activist standpoint. Students will explore definitions of sustainability and consider the means by which a community can work together to implement sustainable practices for the good of all. Since the best way to learn about sustainability is to practice it, students will apply their reading and classroom learning to hands-on experiences in urban agriculture field trips, visits to museums, and other sites across the city. And because sustainability and democratic principles are intertwined, students will take on the role of citizen journalists, interviewing people involved in urban sustainability, researching the goings-on across the city, and reporting on them in creative essays.

Window farm at the American Museum of Natural History Global Kitchen exhibit.

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Sex, Drugs, & Rock’n'Roll

Co-taught with Dr. Gina Torino (Metro) and Mark Miyake (HVC), the purpose of this group study is to examine each component of Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll from a natural science, social science, and historical arts perspective. We aim to examine each component academically in order to suggest that their interrelatedness runs deeper than a mere catch-phrase. Although the slogan was popularized in the mid-20th Century, the entertainment industry immortalized the theme, giving it prominence and new meaning for successive generations. Students will have the opportunity to examine each component from the natural science, social science, and historical arts perspective. Ultimately, students will explore how the biology and psychology of sex and drugs fueled a cultural and musical revolution that in turn shaped how Americans understood their relationship to the pleasures and the dangers of sexuality, sensation and fantasy.

’nuff said.

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Ecology & Earth Systems Field Research Experience

Engaging in an undergraduate field research project is an educational opportunity for students with a desire for an enriched learning experience within a particular subject. Students who undertake a field research experience will work collaboratively with the tutor on a scientific problem of their choice. This is an 8-week summer study that involves a weekend on-site residency. During the term, students will design a research project, collect data and perform analysis, interpret results and prepare a written scientific paper of the work. Each student will pursue an individual research project under the guidance of one faculty member, yet collaborating with all three faculty. This approach will provide students with the skills necessary to undertake similar projects in their career field or future graduate program. In this study, students will become familiar with scientific and field research as well as interdisciplinary collaboration. They will participate in the generation of new ideas and information through field data analysis. The goal of this study is to provide the student with an enriched learning experience based on skills necessary to undertake similar projects in their career field or future graduate program. This study is co-taught with Dr. Audi Matias (CDL) and Nathan Whitley-Grassi (NFC), and will take place at the SUNY Oneonta Field Station in Cooperstown.

SUNY Oneonta Field Station at Cooperstown.

Last week, we took advantage of the warm weather for a daddy-son day.

Fun at the park!

Spent after a tough day at the playground.

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(P.S. – managed to punch out two MSs for review last week.)

Dr. G will present her fabulous talk ‘The Impact of Microaggressions’ for the next Science Colloquium. See you there!

When: Tuesday, April 16th
Where: Metro Gallery (Room 544)
Time: 5-6PM

All-around good guy (and dirty Frenchman), Dr. Guillaume Rieucau, will present his seminar entitled, ‘Stay in school: The whys and hows of massive aggregations in marine fish,’ for the next colloquium. It’ll be good to see him back on North American Soil – if he can get past customs.

When: Tuesday, March 26th
Where: Metro Gallery (325 Hudson St., Fifth Floor; Room 544)
Time: 5-6PM

To commemorate the 15th Anniversary of The Big Lebowski on March 6th (2013), I give you… the Dude.

We struck seal gold today! Hilda (Posada) and I went out on the weekly eco-cruise sponsored by the New York City Audubon to Hoffman and Swinburne Islands. Thanks to Tod Winston, John Rowden, Ann Seligman, and Donald Kass of NYC Audubon for allowing us to tag along. This week’s count: 14 (off of Swinburne).

Home Sweet Home, Red Hook!

Harbor seal (center) sunning off of Swinburne Island.

This was my best ‘seal-bobbing-in’water’ photo of the day.

Swinburne Island, looking up the harbor, past the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and onto the Freedom Tower.

Dr. David Lahti (CUNY Queens College) will present his seminar on ‘How a learned behavior evolves: insights from birds’ for the next Science Colloquium, Tuesday, March 12th from 5-6PM at the Hudson St. Gallery (325 Hudson St., NY, NY; Room 544). See you all there!

Dr. Jeanmaire Molina from the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University will present her talk ‘Exhuming the Corpse Flower: What can we Learn from Rafflesia‘s Genome’ for the next Science Colloquium. Come one, come all!

When: Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
Where: Metro Gallery, Room 544
Time: 5-6PM

Our next speaker for the Colloquium is Dr. John Rowden from New York City Audubon, who will present his talk on, ‘CSI New York: What have our Citizen Science Investigations in Jamaica Bay shown us about this urban estuary?‘ All are welcome!

When: Tuesday, February, 12th, 2013
Time: 5-6PM
Where: Metro Gallery (Room 544; 325 Hudson St., Fifth Floor)