NJ youth participating in a previous Department of 4-H Youth Development workshop.

The Rutgers Department of 4-H Youth Development and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) have launched a multi-year initiative designed to engage New Jersey educators, students, and community partners in climate resilience planning and action.

The project is part of EduCATE (Education, Climate Awareness, Training, and Engagement), a program within New Jersey’s broader Building a Climate Ready NJ initiative. Through the project, educators, students in grades 6–12, and community partners from cities across the state will form Resiliency Action Teams to explore local climate challenges and develop community-based solutions.

Youth participants will build a shared understanding of climate risks using both scientific data and lived experiences. The initiative aims to empower youth to identify priorities in their communities and take an active role in advancing resilience strategies.

“With this project, we hope to build a statewide cohort that centers our NJ youth and is co-led by the students themselves, as well as educators and community leaders,” said Janice McDonnell, associate dean for research impact at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and a co-principal investigator on the grant.

NJ Youth had previously identified their concerns about climate resiliency in an earlier workshop.

The initiative supports EduCATE’s broader mission to expand climate resilience education, training, and community engagement across New Jersey while advancing the goals of Building a Climate Ready NJ.

As members of the Resiliency Action Teams, youths will develop skills in data collection and observation, communication, teamwork, project planning and implementation. At the conclusion of the EduCATE program year, participants will present their projects at Rutgers. The Department of 4-H Youth Development had previously facilitated a similar concept in a workshop in partnership with the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center; Rutgers Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education; Rutgers Center for Ocean Observing Leadership; Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute; Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the Rutgers Science Explorer Program. 

The inaugural cohort of the EduCATE program includes Academy I Middle School (Jersey City), Infinity Institute (Jersey City), Lincoln Middle School (Kearny), Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology (Newark), Union Hill Middle School (Union City), and William L. Dickinson High School (Jersey City). The project will officially kick off in July 2026. Learn more about this initiative on the 4-H STEM website.

This effort is part of Building a Climate Ready NJ, a resilience initiative of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Site sketches.

What if a walk across campus could be as restorative as it is educational?

That question is inspiring a new vision for the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), where faculty, students, and campus leaders are exploring how the grounds of the George H. Cook Campus might evolve into a Health and Wellness Arboretum—a living landscape that supports learning, research, environmental stewardship, and human well-being.

For generations, college campuses have served as shared spaces where students, faculty, and staff live, work, study, and connect. At SEBS, the campus already offers a rich mosaic of forests, farms, gardens, open spaces, and historic landscapes. The emerging Health and Wellness Arboretum concept asks a simple but transformative question: How might these landscapes be intentionally connected and enhanced to support the health of both people and the environment?

This spring, students in the Planting Design course taught by Holly Grace Nelson, professor of practice in the Department of Landscape Architecture, took on that challenge. Through a semester-long design exploration, students imagined the campus as more than a collection of labeled trees. Instead, they envisioned a network of themed “tree gardens” and health and wellness landscapes linked by an arboretum loop that would connect existing forests, trails, agricultural lands, gardens, and other campus features.

Their vision builds upon the traditional role of an arboretum as a living museum dedicated to the cultivation, study, and conservation of trees and woody plants. While arboreta have long served as centers for scientific research, education, biodiversity conservation, and recreation, the Health and Wellness Arboretum expands that mission by intentionally integrating human wellness into the landscape experience.

The project began with listening.

Students organized a design charrette that brought together faculty, staff, and students from across the campus community to discuss what makes outdoor spaces meaningful, welcoming, and restorative. The conversations generated ideas about accessibility, environmental education, quiet reflection, social connection, and opportunities for physical activity.

Jason Grabosky, professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, and director of the Rutgers Urban Forestry Program, shared his work documenting and geolocating significant campus trees. His insights highlighted the extraordinary diversity of the campus landscape and the ecological stories already embedded within its forests and tree collections.

Patty Oehmke, director of wellness at SEBS and professor of practice in the Department of Family and Community Health Sciences, encouraged students to think beyond traditional notions of health. Drawing on the eight dimensions of wellness, she challenged participants to consider how landscapes might support emotional, social, cultural, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, environmental, and physical well-being.

The resulting ideas ranged from contemplative garden spaces and outdoor classrooms to sensory plantings, wellness walking routes, interpretive signage, gathering spaces, and immersive nature experiences designed to encourage reflection, movement, and connection.

The initiative aligns closely with Rutgers’ broader commitment to sustainability and environmental leadership. Increasingly, colleges and universities are recognizing that campus landscapes can serve multiple purposes simultaneously—as classrooms, research sites, biodiversity refuges, community gathering spaces, and places that contribute to mental and physical health.

A Health and Wellness Arboretum also reflects the growing understanding that human health is deeply connected to environmental health. Exposure to nature has been associated with reduced stress, improved mood, enhanced cognitive function, and increased opportunities for physical activity. By weaving these principles into the design and management of campus landscapes, institutions can create environments that actively support learning and well-being.

The concept continues to gain momentum this summer as landscape architecture junior Saanvi Bhattarai further develops some of the most promising ideas through the Public Design Internship Program in Landscape Architecture, funded through a grant secured by Nelson. Based in Rutgers Institutional Planning and Operations, Bhattarai is working with Brian Clemson, University Landscape Architect, to explore how student-generated concepts might inform future campus planning efforts. Co-directed by Clemson and Nelson, the internship provides an opportunity to advance the Health and Wellness Arboretum vision beyond the classroom, connecting academic design exploration with real-world campus planning and landscape stewardship.

For Nelson, the initiative represents an opportunity to connect the strengths of SEBS—its expertise in environmental science, agriculture, ecology, design, and human well-being—into a unified vision for the future.

“A Health and Wellness Arboretum ties together our campus grounds with our campus mission for a healthy and sustainable future,” Nelson said. “It invites us to think about how every landscape can support learning, stewardship, community, and wellness while reinforcing our responsibility to balance the wellbeing of all living organisms with the health of the earth.”

As the concept evolves, the Health and Wellness Arboretum offers a compelling vision for what a modern land-grant campus can be: a living laboratory, a place of discovery, and a landscape designed not only to educate, but also to nurture.

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Grayson Tung, Senior Coordinator for the Pesticide Safety Education Program, RCE.

We are pleased to announce that Grayson Tung has joined Rutgers Cooperative Extension as the new Senior Coordinator for the Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP).

He has also been deeply involved in mentoring undergraduate students in research and has contributed extensively to outreach activities across Rutgers and the broader community. His efforts have included presentations for prospective students, school outreach programs, Rutgers Day activities, and mentorship programs supporting undergraduate education and career development in entomology. In recognition of these contributions, Tung received the 2026 SGS Graduate Student Excellence in Leadership and Teaching Award.

As Senior Coordinator of PSEP, he will help lead statewide educational and certification programs for pesticide applicators across New Jersey. The Rutgers Pesticide Safety Education Program provides training and educational resources to farmers, landscapers, pest management professionals, mosquito control personnel, and other stakeholders to support safe, effective, and legally compliant pesticide use throughout the state. 

Tung brings strong expertise in insect biology, applied entomology, education, and public engagement. We are excited to welcome him to Rutgers and look forward to the many contributions he will make to Rutgers Cooperative Extension and New Jersey integrated pest and mosquito management.

Please join us in welcoming Grayson Tung to Rutgers University!

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Students, faculty and community members work together to plant thousands of native trees and shrubs.

On a patch of Livingston campus once covered in asphalt, Rutgers University-New Brunswick students are planting the beginnings of a forest, one designed not just to grow quickly but to bring people into the work of reforestation.

The transformation is part of the Livingston Abandoned Roadway Environmental Restoration project, which replaces an obsolete roadway dating back to the Camp Kilmer World War II staging ground with a dense planting of native species using the Miyawaki method, a fast-growing approach to reforestation that rebuilds soil and layers vegetation to accelerate natural growth.

But the project is about more than ecology.

“This is as much about people as it is about trees,” said Josh Kover SEBS’25, a graduate student in landscape architecture who designed the forest as part of his honors thesis and has helped lead the effort. “We’re thinking about how to build a culture of stewardship, how to make environmental work something that feels accessible, communal and lasting.”

Josh Kover, SEBS’25, who is working towards a master’s degree in landscape architecture, helps community participants plant trees at the Livingston Abandoned Roadway Environmental Restoration site.

Kover spent more than a year designing the site alongside faculty and university partners, including Jason Grabosky, a professor in the Rutgers Urban Forestry Program, working to recreate the complexity of a natural ecosystem in a highly managed environment. 

“We’re trying to design a system that works like a natural forest from day one, instead of waiting decades for it to get there,” Kover said. “The goal was to create something that’s not just planted, but functional, something that can sustain itself over time.”

That meant rebuilding the soil, carefully selecting native species and planting densely across layers, from canopy trees to shrubs to groundcover, to create the conditions for a self-sustaining system.

The project is supported by a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection stormwater grant funded through the Federal American Rescue Plan Act. The concept was developed by Brian Clemson, the university’s landscape architect, who serves as principal investigator of the project. He worked with staff in Rutgers Institutional Planning and Operations and faculty to shape the site not only as a stormwater solution, but as a living lab for teaching, research and environmental restoration. 

Operations and faculty to shape the site not only as a stormwater solution, but as a living lab for teaching, research and environmental restoration. 

“This is a significant and unique opportunity,” said Clemson. “The roadway had been abandoned for decades. It is almost a once in a lifetime professional career opportunity.”

This will enable current and future students and researchers an opportunity to study how forests, forest ecosystems and forest soils form and evolve, explained Clemson.

The project reflects a broader shift in how institutions think about land use.

“It’s rare to see a place decide a roadway is no longer necessary and even rarer to turn it into something that functions as an environmental asset,” Kover said. “It’s already a model for what you can do with old transportation corridors when they’re no longer in use.”

Professor Jason Grabosky speaks with participants at the Rutgers Tree Planting Festival.

The Miyawaki method, developed in Japan, has gained traction globally as communities look for ways to restore green space quickly. In New Jersey, a small but increasing number of sites have adopted the approach, though the practice remains relatively new in the United States.

Kover said the method is widely used but still being studied. Even so, he said, the growing interest has value.

“People are still doing the right things, planting native species, thinking about soil, thinking about systems,” he said. “And that’s a big step in the right direction.”

At Rutgers, the site will serve as a living lab. Researchers plan to study soil microbes, plant competition and long-term forest health, helping build a clearer understanding of how dense, fast-growing forests develop.

“This gives us a chance to answer some of those open questions while the forest is actually developing,” Kover said. “It’s not just a planting. It’s something we’ll be able to study for years.”

For Kover, the science is only half the story.

“The environmental benefits matter, but they don’t go very far if people don’t feel connected to them,” he said. “If no one knows about a project like this, it doesn’t reach its full potential.”

That vision came to life during the Rutgers Tree Planting Festival, a student-led, university-wide initiative designed not just to plant trees, but to bring people into the process. Held April 18, the festival drew more than 500 attendees, including students, faculty, staff, alumni and local residents, around a common goal: Plant 3,000 trees and, in the process, lay the foundation for a dense, fast-growing native forest.

“If I’d never attended the tree planting festival, I’d have thought that reforesting an area was an unfathomably difficult task that probably involved luck and the passage of thousands of years,” said Vikram Kadayan, who graduated from the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences in 2025 with a degree in computer science. “One tree planting festival later, I learned it’s actually an approachable process that I got to be a part of. And all the while, I got to listen to great music, learn about the natural world around me and enjoy delicious empanadas.”

The event combined hands-on planting with music, art and opportunities to learn, reflecting what Kover said is a critical piece of climate work that is often overlooked.

Read more in the full Rutgers Today article.

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SEBS and NJAES faculty reconnect, continuing conversations from the last workshop on their common their research interests.

More than 20 faculty from SEBS and NJAES completed the inaugural “Charting Your Research Pathway” workshop series hosted by the SEBS/NJAES Office of Research this past March. Over six weeks, participants refined their Rutgers research visions, explored new funding opportunities, and received individualized guidance and support from the Office of Research.

“I’m already pursuing concrete research collaborations that grew directly from this [workshop] series,” said Erin Comollo, assistant teaching professor in the RCE Department of Family and Community Health Sciences. Comollo participated in several sessions throughout the series, including the kickoff event in January.

A central focus of the workshop was building faculty capacity to engage in Convergence Research—a problem-driven approach that brings together multiple disciplines to collaboratively address complex challenges.

Participants Elaine Griffin and Erin Comollo, mid-discussion.

“A Rutgers SEBS and NJAES aim is to produce high quality research that is informed by and responds to community needs. It’s in our mission as a land grant and amplified through the Academic Master Plan. Convergence research is a way for us to bring together the impressive breadth of expertise across all of Rutgers and our partner networks,” said Josh Kohut, SEBS Dean of Research and NJAES Director of Research, and co-leader of the workshop series.

Through the series, attendees reported a stronger understanding of convergence research and how their work at SEBS and NJAES aligns with this approach. “I came with questions about how to develop research that honored both academic rigor and community need—but I wasn’t sure where to start,” said Comollo. “Connecting with faculty who were asking similar questions about transdisciplinary collaboration and community-engaged undergraduate education gave me both collaborators and an intellectual community.”

The workshop was intentionally designed to foster cross-departmental exchange within SEBS/NJAES, as well as connections between early-career and senior faculty. In post-workshop evaluations, participants highlighted the meaningful relationships they built with colleagues beyond their own departments.

“It was important to have junior faculty mentored by senior faculty in this series,” said Elaine Griffin, associate director of grants facilitation within the SEBS/NJAES Office of Research. Griffin was one of several experts, both within and beyond Rutgers University, who provided guidance to participants. Faculty also:

• Were briefed on the current federal funding landscape by Samantha Booth (Associate Director of Federal Relations, Office of Federal Relations), Dominique Carter (Principal, Lewis-Burke Associates), and Sarah Gianotti (Legislative Research Assistant, Lewis-Burke Associates)
• Received counsel on engaging with foundations from Gabrielle Peterson (Executive Director of Development, SEBS), Tracy Elliot (Senior Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Rutgers–New Brunswick), and Elaine Griffin
• Were advised on building industry partnerships by Wade Trappe (Dean of Research, School of Engineering), David Specca (Assistant Director, EcoComplex), Kit Yam (Professor, Department of Food Science), Melissa Vinch (Contract Manager, Research Contract Services), and Melissa Matsil (Executive Director, Research Contract Services)
• Were guided on writing concept papers by Oscar Schofield (Department Chair, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences), Dipak Sarkar (Director of the Endocrine Program, Department of Animal Sciences), Anne Nielsen (Associate Extension Specialist in Entomology, Department of Entomology), and Changlu Wang (Extension Specialist in Entomology, Department of Entomology)

SEBS and NJAES faculty have constructive discussions on potential collaboration.

“Our goal was for each participant to walk away with a clear research roadmap, one that could help them connect with faculty collaborators and pursue projects addressing some of society’s grand challenges,” said Janice McDonnell, SEBS Associate Dean of Research Impact and co-leader of the workshop series.

Many faculty have already taken that message to heart, developing concept papers and proposals for submission to funding opportunities both within and beyond Rutgers. This includes an internal grant from the SEBS/NJAES Office of Research that provides seed funding for Rutgers teams seeking to further explore convergence research ideas. While applications for this cycle have closed, the Office of Research remains optimistic about the long-term impact of this work.

Faculty interested in strengthening their research impact are encouraged to contact Janice McDonnell, Associate Dean of Research Impact at SEBS, at mcdonnel@marine.rutgers.edu

Editor’s note: This article was written by Mitaali Taskar, a science communicator and research project assistant with Rutgers Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences.

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Asem Kiyalova (left), a Rutgers graduate student and research assistant, and Sue Huang examine plant specimens housed at the Chrysler Herbarium. Photo: Jeff Arban/Rutgers University

Sue Huang is using speculative and critical design to bring long-dead plant species in New Jersey back to life in the collective human consciousness.  

Sue Huang. Photo: Courtesy of Sue Huang

Her latest work is a collaborative effort founded in both science and the imagination – one that involves graduate students and mixes research, history, software development, visual design and plant biology. 

Central to the effort is the development of a software tool – “the heart of the project in many ways,” Huang said – that reconstructs plant forms from historical descriptions, generating three-dimensional models using artificial intelligence.

“The project reintroduces lost or disappearing plant species from New Jersey’s ecologies into contemporary culture by giving them new form,” said Huang, the inaugural Rutgers University-New Brunswick Laureate.

Her laureate project, Bodies of Flora, will culminate with what the artist and designer described as a “lecture performance” that explores botanical loss and visualizes the resurrection of vanished plants.  

Huang, an assistant professor with the Department of Art & Design at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, has enlisted help from the Chrysler Herbarium and Mycological Collection as well as the Department of Plant Biology and the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, all of which are part of the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.  

She also tapped graduate students – including two general research assistants with the Art & Design department at Mason Gross and a software engineering student from the Rutgers School of Engineering – in critical roles to help her realize this blending of art and science. 

Asem Kiyalova. Photo: Azhar Kudaibergenova

Asem Kiyalova, a graduate teaching fellow with the Art & Design department who teaches undergraduate courses in design and typography at Mason Gross, is helping Huang on a website for the project, particularly the user interface and user experience aspects.  

“She was my first professor when I arrived,” said Kiyalova, who hails from Almaty, Kazakhstan, and graduates in May with a master of fine arts degree in design. “I was dreaming about working with her at some point. And when she offered, I was like, ‘This is the dream come true.’” 

Kiyalova said that while testing the website, “We found that many people are not aware of the herbarium on the Rutgers campus, or even what an herbarium is, despite it being such a valuable resource. The website we are designing aims to highlight this space, bringing greater recognition to the herbarium and showcasing the important and fascinating work carried out there. In this way, it helps tell the broader story of herbaria and their significance.”

She also credited Huang for trusting her and others and involving them in “the conceptual part of this project.”

“I’m learning from her how to lead a project and how to make things happen from scratch,” said Kiyalova, who speaks Kazakh, Russian and English, received her bachelor degree in graphic design from Teesside University in the United Kingdom and worked for years in the advertising industry. “I’m so happy that I’m a part of a team. I’m so excited about the upcoming performance.” 

Another Mason Gross graduate student, Anukriti Kaushik, is a lecturer with the Art & Design department who is pursuing a master of fine arts degree in design. She is conducting materials research and physical fabrication for the project. 

Rutgers graduate student and research assistant Anukriti Kaushik works in the Mason Gross School of the Arts papermaking studio in December. Photo:
Sue Huang

Initially, when she started the project, Huang said her thought was to research scientific and historical archives “in which we would examine the morphological descriptions of the plants,” including extirpated plants – ones “that no longer exist locally in their original habitats” – and extinct plant species.  
 
“We are looking at these descriptions, and I was thinking about ways of using this language, which describes the plant body, to bring these plants back into the cultural consciousness through a range of social practices and material explorations, including the generation of visual and audio materials” she said. “I use language to give these botanical ghosts a body.” 

Kundan Kumar Reddy Digavinti, a graduate student attending the Rutgers School of Engineering, is working to make the project’s 3D-modeling software tool a reality.  

Digavinti, a native of Chennai, India, who earned his bachelor degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in India, said he was “just scrolling through” Rutgers webpages when he came across news about Huang and her laureate project. 

“The point which took my attention was the resurrection of the plants, the historical plans where we didn’t see them,” said Digavinti, further explaining that the challenge was to represent these lost plants based on archived descriptions of researchers from the past century or earlier. “It was like bringing back them to life in the form of art or something.” 

He added that his role – “to produce a good artwork based on the texts that were historical” – is to bring “all the tools by using the AI, the AI models and integrate it into one tool where the user will get an output by giving one single prompt.” 

Working on multiple artificial intelligence models was a “first for me,” said Digavinti, who is pursuing a master degree in electrical and computer engineering with a focus on software engineering.

Kundan Kumar Reddy Digavinti. Photo: Courtesy of Kundan Kumar Reddy Digavinti

“I was completely involved in building and designing a pipeline to generate images by processing natural language from the texts,” he said. “And since this was the first time that I was entirely working on a project from the beginning to the end working with multiple models, it was a good learning experience. It was also not my discipline.” 

Huang also is collaborating with Megan King, a graduate student and the collections manager at the Chrysler Herbarium who assists with access to the collections and offers insight into herbarium practices, and Lena Struwe, the director of Chrysler Herbarium and a professor at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, “who has been very instrumental to our understanding of what needed to be considered in the software tool development.” 

The professor said she has enjoyed having graduate students work with her on the project, adding that their mix of scholarly pursuits were critical to bringing Bodies of Flora to fruition. 

“They bring their own set of skills, which enhances the work we’re doing on the project,” Huang said. “I have my own areas of expertise, but I see deep knowledge in research as knowing how to bring together the skills of others to move the work forward.” 

“From another point of view, I would say the students bring vibrancy, excitement, optimism and a strong work ethic to the project.” 

Huang will present Bodies of Flora at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 1, as part of a performance program for the Jersey Art Book Fair held at Mana Contemporary, a cultural center at 888 Newark Ave., Jersey City, N.J. 

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

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Image by ead72, licensed via Adobe Stock (Education License)

Scientists have developed a powerful new statistical approach that can reveal complex patterns in how fish move and adapt to their environments—information that’s been hiding in plain sight within fish ear stones.

A study published in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries introduces an advanced framework to analyze chemical signatures in fish otoliths—small calcium carbonate structures in fish ears that act like natural recorders of a fish’s life history.

Joyce Ong, research and grants facilitator of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, served as a co-author on the study.

The research team applied this new method to tropical snapper populations across the Indo-Pacific region and discovered that while phylogenetic processes affecting strontium regulation in otoliths remained consistent across vast geographic distances, other chemical signatures (incorporation of barium and magnesium) revealed region-specific differences reflecting local environmental conditions or physiological adaptations.

Traditional analysis methods often oversimplify data by grouping measurements into group means based on sampling regions or across calendar years, potentially missing important patterns at smaller scales. Additionally, traditional approaches use linear regression models, however, most biological processes do not have linear relationships. This new approach captures continuous, non-linear changes throughout a fish’s life, while also accounting for individual variation among fish and changes over time. Together, these provide much more detailed insights into fish movement strategies and how they respond to environmental changes.

“Understanding the life-history strategies of commercially important fish populations is crucial for predicting how species respond to environmental change, especially in the data-poor and tropical Indo-Pacific region that is characterized by immense fishing pressures and environmental changes,” Ong explained. “This framework provides a powerful methodological approach for unraveling complex life-history and movement strategies in fish populations, offering critical insights into their adaptive responses to changing environments—information that’s essential for effective fisheries management and conservation as our oceans continue to change.”

Beyond fish, this statistical framework can be applied to analyze similar time-resolved chemical data from coral skeletons, shark vertebrae, bivalve shells, and other biological structures that record environmental history, opening new possibilities for understanding how aquatic species interact with their rapidly changing world.

You can read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-025-09993-0

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Oliver Stringham, and was reviewed and edited by Joyce Ong, a co-author on the study.

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SEBS “Bring Your Child to Work Day” attendees gather in front of Martin Hall on the George H. Cook Campus. Photo: OPOC

The School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) came alive with energy, laughter and discovery on April 23 as it hosted its annual “Bring Your Child to Work Day,” a growing tradition that continues to deepen connections across the SEBS community while sparking curiosity in the next generation.

Lia Papathomas, director of External Relations and Strategic Initiatives at SEBS/NJAES, pictured with her sons during the Bioblitz and String Safari event. Photo: OPOC

Now in its fourth year since its launch in 2023, the event welcomed 60 pre-teens and teens alongside 33 parents for a full day of immersive, hands-on learning across the vibrant George H. Cook Campus.

“Bring Your Child to Work Day” is a special opportunity to connect our SEBS community across generations. By welcoming the children of our faculty and staff onto campus, we hope to spark early interest in science, discovery and the meaningful work we do every day,” said Laura Lawson, executive dean of SEBS.

From science exploration to creative expression, every corner of the campus became a gateway to discovery.

The day unfolded as an adventure in environmental exploration, beginning with the popular Bioblitz and String Safari. Here, young participants stepped into the role of field scientists, learning firsthand how challenging—and exciting—it can be to observe and document biodiversity. With curiosity as their guide, they combed through garden spaces, identifying and classifying living organisms while gaining a deeper appreciation for the complexity of ecosystems.

Inside the NJAES Research Greenhouse, students and parents alike experienced science in action. The greenhouse tour revealed how plants are cultivated and studied in controlled environments, connecting research to everyday life—from the food on our tables to sustainable solutions for the planet.

Gary Panetta, assistant dean in the SEBS Office of Academic Programs, and his child visit the Nutritional Sciences Teaching Kitchen, which hosted the “Twist & Learn: Pretzel Nutrition Fun” event. Photo: OPOC

In celebration of National Pretzel Day, the Department of Nutritional Sciences hosted Twist & Learn: Pretzel Nutrition Fun, where learning met laughter in the kitchen. Guided by instructor Melissa Keresztes, participants explored the science of carbohydrates while shaping their own pretzels—an engaging reminder that nutrition can be both educational and delicious.

This year also marked an exciting expansion of the program with the launch of a pilot high school track, designed to engage teens aged 15 and older in deeper academic and career exploration. Through curated experiences—including a campus tour, faculty-led discussions, and an interactive communication workshop—students were introduced to the breadth of opportunities within SEBS.

The teens explored the Waksman Museum of Microbiology and engaged in wellness and mindfulness activities that offered moments of reflection amid the day’s excitement. Academic talks and lab tours provided a glimpse into cutting-edge research, helping students envision themselves as future scientists, innovators and leaders.

Teens enjoyed the Bloom & Build: Terrariums, Plants, and Plant Careers event at the Floriculture Greenhouse on the George H. Cook Campus. Photo: OPOC

Creativity and nature came together in Bloom & Build: Terrariums, Plants, and Plant Careers, where participants crafted their own living ecosystems while learning about the powerful role plants play in health, industry, and daily life. From rare botanical specimens to innovations like the pineberry and Scarlet Sunrise tomato, the session highlighted the diverse and evolving field of plant science.

The day concluded with a visit to the Rutgers Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RU COOL), where teens explored how ocean data is collected and analyzed in real time. Surrounded by cutting-edge technology, they gained insight into how interdisciplinary research is shaping our understanding of climate, weather, and coastal systems.

More than just a day of activities, SEBS’ “Bring Your Child to Work Day” continues to grow as a meaningful tradition that celebrates family, fosters community and opens doors to possibility for youth through discovery of the school’s world-class programs.

View a gallery of photos from the day. 

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Students and instructors in the Spring 2026 “Food Production and Management” class pose for a group picture on Recipe Day, where the students created meals for the EFNEP website and beyond. Photo: OPOC

On March 11, the teaching kitchen of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick was filled with the aromas of simmering soups, roasted spices and baked desserts as students put their coursework into action during Recipe Day—a hands-on capstone experience with impact far beyond the classroom.

The event featured 24 student-developed recipes spanning entrées, snacks, soups and desserts, each designed with a clear purpose: to serve low- and under-resourced communities through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

Salome Papaspyrou Rao, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, overseeing the workstations in the Teaching Kitchen during the Spring 2026 Recipe Day.

“This is not just about creating recipes,” said Melissa Keresztes, teaching kitchen coordinator and lecturer. “It’s about developing a greater quantity and diversity of recipes using ingredients that are easy to find and that are affordable.”

Recipe Day is a signature component of the course, Food Production and Management, taught by Salome Papaspyrou Rao, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. The course is designed to align with real-world food systems and community needs while advancing Rutgers’ commitment to experiential learning.

Students in the course develop competencies across a wide range of areas, including food procurement, production and distribution systems; kitchen design and large-scale food preparation; menu planning for diverse populations; and food service management, leadership and operations. The curriculum also emphasizes sustainability and cultural competence—key elements reflected in the recipes students create.

The initiative is further supported by Joshua Miller, chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, whose investment in ingredients and program resources enables students to fully engage in the teaching kitchen environment while integrating advanced tools for recipe development.

Recipe Day represents the culmination of a unique collaboration between the Department of Nutritional Sciences and EFNEP under Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE)—a partnership intentionally designed to align with student success goals in Rutgers’ Academic Master Plan, said Marisol Ortiz, EFNEP state coordinator/assistant director, supervisor. The collaboration began with a simple but powerful realization: students and EFNEP staff were already doing similar work—developing and testing recipes—just separately.

L-R: Salome Papaspyrou Rao, Department of Nutritional Sciences; Marisol Ortiz, EFNEP; Melissa Keresztes, Teaching Kitchen; and Stacy Onofrietti, EFNEP. Photo: OPOC

“That prompted me to reflect on the proximity and overlap between EFNEP and the Department of Nutritional Sciences,” Ortiz said. “We saw an opportunity to bring those efforts together in a way that benefits both students and the communities we serve.”

By integrating EFNEP into the classroom, students gain hands-on, service-learning experience while contributing to a growing national library of culturally relevant, nutritious and cost-effective recipes.

EFNEP representatives Ortiz and Stacy Onofrietti, EFNEP program associate and supervisor, visit the class to introduce their programming and outline opportunities for student involvement in recipe development. According to Ortiz, they also provide specific criteria for recipe creation tailored to the communities they serve, including an emphasis on cultural diversity, affordability, and the use of readily available ingredients

“For their initial assignment, students are encouraged to explore original recipes, often drawing inspiration from personal or family traditions that are meaningful to them,” Ortiz said.

Students also learn that “in addition to the recipes being incorporated into EFNEP classes and showcased on our website, one recipe is selected for inclusion in an EFNEP recipe book developed in North Carolina,” she added.

Precision Meets Creativity in the Kitchen

Students are tasked with creating recipes that meet strict EFNEP guidelines, including limits on sodium and fat, a maximum of 10 ingredients and the use of accessible, low-cost foods commonly found in grocery stores or home food pantries.

Student Jacquelin Genty cooks an entrée of unstuffed cabbage with rice. Photo: OPOC

To meet these standards, students use nutrient analysis software to generate USDA-compliant nutrition labels and refine their recipes accordingly.

For student Mia Harris, that meant reworking a sweet potato spice granola recipe—adding ingredients like honey and pecans while ensuring it still met program requirements.

The process is both technical and creative, requiring students to balance flavor, nutrition and affordability. Many students drew inspiration from their own cultural backgrounds, resulting in a menu that reflects the diversity of the communities EFNEP serves.

Jacquelin Genty, who transferred to Rutgers in 2024, is creating two items. One snack, specifically a crispy, roasted chickpea, and an entrée of unstuffed cabbage with rice.

Jennifer Reyes reimagined a Dominican-inspired plantain lasagna, adapted from pastelón, a family favorite.

Raoul Bernal, SAS’27, preparing chicken tinola, a traditional Filipino soup.

Raoul Bernal, SAS’27, prepared chicken tinola, a traditional Filipino comfort soup. For him, the recipe as well as the experience are personal. “It’s a huge comfort food my mother used to make when we were sick,” he said, describing the familiar flavors of ginger, chicken and chayote.

The Simple Plate Initiative as a National Resource

Recipes developed during the course undergo rigorous testing, including step-by-step documentation, yield calculations and sensory evaluations. Once finalized, they are reviewed by EFNEP staff and selected for use in community programming and online publication.

Over time, these student-created recipes have extended their reach well beyond New Jersey—some even appearing in EFNEP materials used in other states.

“This collaborative work beautifully illustrates how Cooperative Extension and academic instruction can work synergistically to meet community needs while enriching students’ experience,” said Brian Schilling, RCE director.

Now entering its third year, the program is officially named the Simple Plate Initiative and continues to expand under the leadership of EFNEP’s Onofrietti. “Students are encouraged to create unique, culturally diverse recipes using ingredients commonly found in local food pantries, helping to inclusively represent the populations we serve,” she said.

“This initiative connects academic learning with real-world impact,” Ortiz added. “Students are not just completing assignments—they are creating resources that directly benefit families across the country.”

Beyond technical skills, students leave the course with something more enduring: a sense of purpose and pride.

With their names attached to published recipes and a tangible contribution to community health, students build professional portfolios while seeing firsthand how their work can make a difference, stressed Keresztes, as she moved between stations of students gathered around the Ferrari red kitchen ranges and ovens of the Nutritional Sciences Teaching Kitchen.

And among the aromas and sounds in the bustling kitchen, it’s easy to see that Recipe Day is indeed more than a class exercise. It’s where education, culture and community come together.

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Adélie penguins in Antarctica. Photo credits Oscar Schofield

Penguins waddling across Antarctic ice might seem far removed from a classroom in New Jersey, but a new study shows that these charismatic birds can be a powerful hook for teaching young people about climate change — and inspiring them to see themselves as future scientists.

The study was led by researchers at Rutgers University, including affiliates of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute Janice McDonnell, Associate Dean of Research Impact at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and Oscar Schofield, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences. In addition, the lead author, Marissa Staffen, and co-author Matthew Newman are both county agents from the Department of 4-H Youth Development at Rutgers.

Published in the Journal of Geoscience Education, the study evaluates a program called Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help! — an eight-session after-school club designed for middle schoolers in grades 5 to 8. The program invites students to join a virtual research team studying real penguin population data from Antarctica, collected by the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program at Palmer Station.

Students work with actual scientific data using an online tool called CODAP to graph and analyze how Adélie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguin populations have changed over time — and why. The program ends with a creative “Data Jam,” where students turn their findings into poems, art, videos, or other projects to share with their communities.

The program directly connects climate change in the polar regions — where warming is happening much faster than the global average — to real consequences like sea ice loss and shrinking penguin populations. It also draws lines from those distant changes to local impacts like sea level rise and extreme weather, helping students understand that what happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica.

“This program shows that when you give young people real scientific data and a compelling story — in this case, penguins — they don’t just learn facts, they start to see themselves as part of the solution. Building that sense of identity and agency in students, especially for young people that don’t see themselves represented in STEM, is one of the most important things we can do for both STEM education and climate action,” said Staffen.

Students in the Data to the Rescue program explore real penguin population data collected at Palmer Station, Antarctica, connecting distant ecosystems to local climate change impacts. Photo credit Matthew Newman

Over three years and across 46 program sites in the U.S., 1,571 youth took part. The study found that after completing the program, students showed a statistically significant increase in ‘science identity’ — meaning students felt more like they belonged in science. This was especially meaningful given that the program intentionally reached out to groups underrepresented in STEM, including girls, Black and Hispanic youth, and students from low-income communities.

Students who started with little knowledge of polar science showed the biggest gains in learning. Many who began by answering “I don’t know” to questions about the Arctic and Antarctic finished the program with real, substantive answers.

Interestingly, overall fascination with science dipped slightly by the end of the program — but the authors suggest this may reflect a more realistic understanding of what science actually involves, including the hard work and challenges, rather than a loss of interest. Students with lower initial fascination actually showed gains.

The implications of this research go beyond penguins. The program offers a replicable, low-cost model for informal science education that can be run in after-school clubs, community centers, summer camps, libraries, or 4-H programs — and all materials are available for free in both English and Spanish. The authors argue that building climate literacy and data skills in young people, particularly those from underserved communities, is essential for developing an informed public and a diverse STEM workforce capable of tackling global challenges like climate change. Explore Data to the Rescue resources and read the full study here.

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Oliver Stringham, and was reviewed by Marissa Staffen, Janice McDonnell, Matthew Newman, and Oscar Schofield, co-authors on the study.

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