Rosahirene “Rosy” Andrade Cordova planted hundreds of marigolds with the Rutgers Gardens Student Farm team and appreciates the flower’s “scent that feels like a warm hug from my family in Mexico.”

For Rosahirene “Rosy” Andrade Cordova, gardening began very simply as a hobby in her yard. But as she watched plants grow and discovered the satisfaction of caring for them, she began to recognize something deeper.

“I realized that I had a very strong connection to the process of growing different kinds of plants,” she said. “It was always something that brought me joy growing up.”

Today, that early connection has grown into an academic interest and professional career trajectory. A sophomore majoring in plant science within the horticulture and agriculture track at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), Rosy is gaining practical skills and applied knowledge through an experiential learning opportunity at Healthy Harvest, the SEBS food access and urban agriculture hub on Jones Avenue in New Brunswick.

Her garden-focused project, which began in July and extends into the fall semester, has given her the opportunity to apply concepts from her coursework to an actual urban growing environment while contributing to a community she knows well.

“I grew up in New Brunswick and doing my experiential learning at Healthy Harvest meant I could give back to the place I once grew up in,” she said.

Rosy’s experiential learning project focuses on crop planning for the upcoming growing seasons, building upon her current engagement on site in the urban gardens. Her responsibilities include tracking crop rotation, identifying spacing requirements, determining the number of plants needed for each section of the garden, and preparing a garden layout and design.

Rosy on one of many days spent learning, growing, and working with the Student Farm.

The work is part of a broader effort to help the urban Student Farm at Healthy Harvest plan effectively for future crop production, which includes growing fresh vegetables that will support food insecure students and community residents.

“Rosy helped create a crop rotation plan for the urban Student Farm at Healthy Harvest this summer,” said Meagan Terry, assistant director of Sustainable Agriculture & Urban Farms at Rutgers Gardens. “It is important to understand which crops can grow appropriately within each season of the year to maximize efficiency in crop production and time, and to minimize pest and disease pressure via crop rotation.”

For Rosy, that means looking at the garden not simply as a collection of individual plants, but as an interconnected system. She researched crop rotation and intercropping—the practice of growing different crops together—and is helping prepare beds for the crop rotation planned for the fall.

One of her learning goals is to understand best practices for sustainable urban food production through hands-on garden preparation, planting and care.

The project also exposes her to the practical considerations that shape what can be grown in an urban community garden, from the amount of available space to appropriate spacing between plants and the timing of different crops.

The urban Student Farm and community garden at Healthy Harvest appeal to Rosy because the growing spaces connect her academic interests with the community where she grew up.

Anahi Nicolas Gaspar, urban farm coordinator and a mentor to Rosy, focuses on growing cultural crops that are commonly enjoyed by New Brunswick residents. For Rosy, that community focus makes the opportunity particularly meaningful.

She is also drawn to the flowers planned for the fall harvest.

“Many of our in-ground beds are for marigolds and celosias, important flowers that will be sold ahead of Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at the end of October,” Terry said.

For Rosy, the flowers carry a significance that extends well beyond the garden.

“I was inspired primarily because of how most of the harvests that I will do in the fall will be celosias and marigolds which are two flowers that are deeply rooted in my culture for Dia de los Muertos,” she said.

One of the marigold beds under Rosy’s care at the Healthy Harvest site.

The experience has allowed her to see the connection between sustainable agriculture, community needs, and cultural traditions.

“I am Mexican and seeing and smelling so many marigolds fills my heart with a lot of joy because it reminds me of my family back in Mexico,” Rosy said.

Like any hands-on experience, the project came with challenges. For Rosy, one of the first was understanding measurements and spacing.

“When I was doing the model of how I wanted the rotation to look, I kept messing up the spacing of the beds and the aisles and I had to keep redoing it,” she said.

But the repeated adjustments became part of the learning process. Rather than simply being given the correct measurements, Rosy had to work through the problem and develop a plan that would function in the available space.

That kind of practical decision-making is central to experiential learning.

Rosy also developed hands-on skills in planting different crops, working with drip irrigation, and caring for a community garden. Along the way, she has strengthened her communication and teamwork skills.

“I used to always be nervous about speaking up about my ideas but with this project I was able to fully share my thoughts and ideas,” she said.

The experience has helped Rosy see how concepts learned in her plant science courses translate into real-world agricultural decisions.

“This opportunity helped me connect what I have learned in the classroom to real-world situations by allowing me to apply concepts like crop spacing, crop rotation, soil health, irrigation, and plant care into an actual community garden,” she said.

The difference, she explained, was having to make decisions in an environment where there was no single answer automatically provided for her.

“I had to make decisions based on the available space rather than just learning information off of an assignment or lecture,” Rosy said.

Terry’s description of the project underscores that distinction. Crop planning requires students to consider the timing of production, available space, crop compatibility and strategies for managing pests and disease—not simply understand those concepts in theory.

For Rosy, being trusted with those decisions became an important part of her development.

“This project has influenced my confidence in expressing my thoughts and making decisions for myself,” she said. “I was given the freedom to make choices of crop planning and instead of relying on someone else, I was able to trust my knowledge and speak up about my ideas.”

The experience also changed how she thinks about mistakes.

“This experience taught me that it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them and now I feel more comfortable taking initiative and trusting myself with larger projects,” she said.

Rosy’s interest in plants began as a childhood hobby. At Rutgers, it has developed into a potential career path.

Rosy pictured with a bounty of chard, grown and freshly harvested from the Rutgers Gardens Student Farm fields.

She began volunteering at Rutgers Gardens during her first month of college. Wanting to gain more than volunteer experience, she went on to complete an agricultural internship and now works as a Rutgers Gardens Student Farmer while pursuing a field she is passionate about. Her work has direct impact on the community, as much of the produce grown by the Student Farm at Rutgers Gardens and Healthy Harvest benefits individuals and families at risk for, or experiencing, food insecurity. One way this is taking shape is through a new expansion of the Rutgers Community Farmers Market. Funded through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) Food Equity and Economic Development (FEED NJ) initiative, a new mobile farmers market van will take the market on the road, bringing fresh produce to communities throughout New Brunswick. Rosy’s garden plans, and much of the hands-on work she’s completed this summer, lay the groundwork for this exciting endeavor.

As she continues her plant science studies, Rosy is looking toward obtaining her pesticide applicator’s license and further developing her expertise in horticulture and agriculture. Helping to bring her project to fruition is philanthropic support for student scholarships and experiential learning opportunities at SEBS through the Experiential Connections & Engaged Learning (ExCEL) Lab, including private donations and the New Jersey Committee of the Garden Club of America’s Millicent Mercer Johnsen Scholarship, of which Rosy is a 2026 recipient for her project. Her experience at Healthy Harvest has given her more than technical knowledge. It has helped her connect classroom learning with hands-on practice, contribute to a community that is part of her own story, and gain confidence in her ability to make decisions.

At the community garden, Rosy is not only learning how to grow plants. She is also learning how to grow into her future as an agricultural professional.

Jennifer Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, will study how microbes influence insect chemosensory behavior. Photo: Luca Mostello/Rutgers University.

Bugs are formidable foes, spreading disease and destroying billions of dollars in crops annually. Conventional controls, such as insecticides, are losing their effectiveness amid growing resistance and environmental concerns.

Novel controls are needed – and a Rutgers-New Brunswick researcher has been awarded $2.1 million in federal funding to find them.

Jennifer Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers-New Brunswick, has received a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health to study how microbes influence insect behavior.

Sun said her research could help identify new ways of controlling insect pests that are safe and effective.

“We want to find insect control strategies that are precise, species-specific and gentle on our environment,” she said.

At the heart of her research are efforts to understand the role of bacteria and fungi in the sensory systems that drive an insect’s instinct to eat, mate and reproduce.

Sun’s past work has demonstrated the importance of bacteria to fly’s ability to find food. Her team also has extended its investigations to mosquitoes, demonstrating that their desire to seek a blood meal may be driven by microbes on the sensory organs rather than in the gut, as was long believed.

The National Institutes of Health award will support Sun’s lab to conduct three connected lines of study over the next five years:

First, her team will raise germ-free fruit flies and mosquitoes to determine how microbes affect olfactory behavior-regulating proteins on the insects’ mouths, antennae, legs and wings.

Second, through field collections throughout New Jersey, they will investigate environmental drivers of insect-microbe interactions, mapping how climate, pollution and habitat shape microbial communities in sensory organs and, in turn, influence insects’ actions. 

Finally, they will test whether certain bacteria and fungi might modulate insect behavior, paving the way for potential alternatives to chemical insecticides.

Jennifer Sun. Photo: Luca Mostello/Rutgers University.

Sun’s work has implications for both health and agriculture. In New Jersey, the Asian tiger mosquito is well established and transmits a range of diseases, including dengue, Zika and chikungunya. At the same time, fruit flies, such as the spotted-wing drosophila, pose threats to the state’s soft-fruit and berry industries.

Globally, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that invasive pests cause at least $70 billion in farm losses every year, while a 2016 assessment by French researchers found that associated health losses top $6.9 billion annually. 

But most chemical control strategies are either failing because of insecticide resistance or falling out of favor because of the dangers to human and ecological health.

Sun’s connection to Rutgers is long-standing. She studied Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences from 2009 to 2013, returning in 2019 as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. 

In 2022, she received a Rutgers Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, which supported the first two years of the research program now funded by the MIRA grant.

This article first appeared on Rutgers Today.

The 2026 EduCATE Resilience Action Team Cohort.

The Rutgers Department of 4-H Youth Development and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) formally began their new educator-community climate resilience initiative for the greater Jersey City and Newark areas this past July at Liberty Science Center and the Liberty State Park Nature Center.

The year-long program is designed to support Resilience Action Teams in select middle and high schools. Through school clubs, students will work toward implementing local, community-based projects aimed at making the areas they value more resilient to the effects of climate change.

The inaugural cohort includes Academy I Middle School, Infinity Institute, and William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City; Lincoln Middle School in Kearny; Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology in Newark; and Union Hill Middle School in Union City.

Participants practice a landscape design exercise at the Liberty State Park Nature Center using a map of the surrounding area.

The kickoff brought together educators and administrators from each school, who will collaborate to run their school’s club during the coming school year. With support from the Rutgers Department of 4-H Youth Development and graduate student mentors, the teams will use a co-designed club curriculum centered on fun and engaging activities. The curriculum takes a problem-based learning approach, focusing on analyzing research data and using landscape architecture design processes to develop meaningful projects in their communities. Youth will come to Rutgers University in spring 2027 to share their ideas and results.

The department partnered with various Rutgers-affiliated groups and specialists to provide a robust, multifaceted kickoff designed to prepare educators to guide their students through the initiative.

This included James Shope (Assistant Extension Specialist in Climate Services, Department of Environmental Sciences), who presented on the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center’s State of the Climate report. Additionally, Ashlyn Spector (Environmental Analysis and Communications Group Unit Manager, the Center for Urban Policy Research) walked the teams through NJAdapt, a cache of New Jersey specific climate data visualization tools.

Alayne Toretta (County Extension Department Head and 4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Warren County) and Kaitlin Gannon (Education Coordinator, JCNERR) led team-building activities that emphasized community planning and group problem solving. In addition, Alexis Lo (Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability (CUES) Project Manager and Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture), modelled the landscape design activities the teams will lead their students through to construct their project, and Edward Cohen (Associate Director, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education) and Brielle Kociolek (Senior iSTEM Education Coordinator, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education) showcased various problem-based learning methods to potentially use.

These speakers and activities were all complemented by Marissa Staffen (County Extension Department Head and 4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Essex County) and Rodrigo Sanchez-Hernandez (4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Hudson County), who spoke on how Rutgers 4-H could provide county-level support.

Union Hill Middle School presents some resiliency design ideas with Nesheiwat.

The kickoff also offered an opportunity for the school teams to connect with local civic stakeholders and brainstorm ways to implement projects that can be supported and sustained within their communities.

“We want young people to truly feel like they have the agency to work with their school and community members to see a project through,” said Janice McDonnell, SEBS Associate Dean of Research Impact, 4-H STEM Agent, and co-PI on the initiative.

Community stakeholders at the kickoff included Amanda J. Nesheiwat (Director of Sustainability & Community Outreach, Hudson County Improvement Authority); Christine Morales (Kearny Advisory Committee on the Environment and Sustainability); Kevin Force (Supervising Planner, Hudson County Division of Planning); Marytrine De Castro (Council President, Town of Kearny); Shannon Evans (Kearny Advisory Committee on the Environment and Sustainability, Town of Kearny); Victoria Bruno (Strategic Programs Manager, Newark Office of Sustainability), accompanied by Marilyn Cerrato and Roselyn Muniz (Assistant Gen Green Coordinators, Newark Office of Sustainability).

Other speakers at the kickoff included Caleb Stratton, borough administrator for Atlantic Highlands, and Kevin Lyons, professor of professional practice in the Supply Chain Management Department at Rutgers Business School. Stratton spoke about his experience as the former chief resiliency officer for the city of Hoboken and how select city infrastructure projects were designed with flooding and community culture in mind. Lyons, drawing on his experience as director of both the Center for Local Supply Chain Resiliency and the Rutgers Business School Public Private Community Partnership Program, discussed previous projects in the greater area that leveraged existing supply chain systems to uplift community spaces and rearranged supply chains to become more circular.

Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology practices a landscape design exercise with Bruno, using a satellite map of their school and the surrounding area.

Together, the kickoff sessions gave educators the tools, connections and support needed to help students move from learning about climate resilience to identifying and addressing challenges in their own communities. The initiative will continue throughout the school year as students develop their projects with guidance from their educators, Rutgers 4-H, graduate student mentors, and community partners.

Rutgers student Charlene Guo hiked in Saxon Switzerland National Park near Dresden, Germany, in July. Photo:
Kelvin Zhou.

Charlene Guo, an Honors College senior and environmental science major attending the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), spent her summer in Germany conducting research on environmental contamination with heavy metals.

Guo was one of two Rutgers University-New Brunswick students to study in Germany over the summer as part of the Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) Germany program overseen by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Taking her research overseas to an unfamiliar setting was an opportunity she couldn’t resist.

Rutgers student Charlene Guo adds uranine (a fluorescent dye) dissolved in water into a well to track groundwater flow in June. Photo: Lily Sherman.

“This is a complex issue that goes beyond borders and requires large-scale collaboration, so I wanted to establish international connections, learn to adapt to research in completely new settings and explore heavy metal contamination from mining, which is a source I hadn’t studied before in my research,” said Guo, 21, of Westbury, N.Y. “Mining leaves behind waste material that can leach metals into soil and water long after they’re extracted and is a major source of heavy metal contamination worldwide.”

At Rutgers, Guo researches human exposure to lead contamination from sources such as tap water and spices. In Germany, she shifted her focus to sediments and expanded her work to a broader range of heavy metals and metalloids such as arsenic, cadmium and iron.

As a research intern at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF for short, or the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology) in Saxony, Germany, Guo used complexing agents – chemical compounds that bond to metal ions to form stable structures – to remediate mining-contaminated sediment for reuse in the construction and agriculture industries.

“Because the metals are locked away in these structures, they can essentially be ‘washed away’ from the sediment, which could potentially allow it to be safely repurposed instead of being sent to waste,” she said.

Outside of her research, Guo attended classes at the technical university and went on field studies and field trips, including going underground into the school’s research mine and “analyzing groundwater flow through tracer testing.”

Challenges such as laboratory access constraints and redoing or adjusting her experiments because of “unexpected results” added to Guo’s learning experience.

“I had to stay flexible yet prioritize steps that would keep the integrity of my data while balancing that with the time constraints of the internship,” Guo said. “Troubleshooting is honestly just as much a part of research as the experiment itself, and being able to adapt quickly ended up being one of the more useful skills I walked away with.”

Rutgers student Charlene Guo poses in front of signs at the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg in Saxony, Germany, in August. Photo: Tara Kasayapanand.

Guo, who spent her weekends abroad traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Hungary and various German cities, said the RISE Germany program proved “a great way to bridge my environmentally focused coursework to my research interests.”

A moment that captured the value of participating in the RISE Germany program “was realizing how much mining is a part of daily life in Freiberg,” Guo said.

“People still greet each other with ‘Glück auf,’ the old miners’ greeting, and there’s an annual folk festival called Bergstadtfest built around mining heritage, with the hammer-and-pick symbol everywhere you look,” she said. “Seeing my research as something embedded so deeply in a real place and a real community is the reason I want to keep doing this work.”

After graduating from Rutgers, Guo plans to pursue a doctoral degree and work as a research scientist in environmental contamination.

Guo’s story was extracted from a larger Rutgers Today story. 

Daniel Burd SEBS’26 using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to identify and analyze the materials used in food packaging in Dr. Kit Yam’s laboratory in the Rutgers Food Science Building.

Two semesters of experiential learning in Rutgers’ food packaging laboratory helped Daniel Burd transform classroom knowledge into award-winning research with real-world applications for the food industry.

When Daniel Burd first arrived at Rutgers after earning an associate degree from Brookdale Community College, he knew he loved food science because it brought chemistry and biology to life. What he didn’t yet know was how much he would enjoy asking research questions that didn’t have obvious answers.

During Fall 2025 and Spring 2026, Daniel spent his senior year at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) immersed in undergraduate experiential learning through the laboratory of Kit L. Yam, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food Science. The two-semester experience gave Daniel the opportunity to apply engineering, chemistry and food science to solve practical challenges facing the food industry while working alongside faculty, graduate students and industry partners.

The experience proved transformative.

Daniel’s contributions in Yam’s Packaging Laboratory—from supporting industry-funded packaging studies to advancing graduate research on controlled-release systems for fresh produce—earned him the prestigious Virginia Dare Award in Spring 2026. The award recognizes undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional potential for a future career in food science through research excellence and reflects the impact of Daniel’s experiential learning journey.

Daniel Burd SEBS’26, food science major.

Today, Daniel is a 2026 SEBS graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Food Science and is continuing at Rutgers in the Master of Business and Science program in Applied Food Science and Technology.

“The chance to gain hands-on experience in a laboratory specifically focused on food science inspired me,” said Burd. “This experience allowed me to become much more involved in research and see how concepts from class are applied to real problems.”

Through the SEBS Experiential Learning (EL) program, Daniel joined one of the nation’s leading food packaging research laboratories, working alongside Rutgers graduate researcher Eric Chan, who provided day-to-day mentorship and guided Daniel’s development as a researcher while introducing him to increasingly sophisticated laboratory techniques, experimental design and scientific problem-solving.

Daniel began by assisting graduate researchers with experiments, preparing samples and collecting data. As Daniel’s confidence and technical skills grew, so did his responsibilities. He became proficient in a range of analytical techniques, including gas chromatography (GC-FID), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), microbiological testing, oxygen transmission rate testing, water activity analysis, and texture and color analysis.

Before long, Daniel was contributing directly to research focused on active food packaging technologies, shelf-life extension and food quality.

One major project involved helping develop controlled-release delivery systems for 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a compound that slows the ripening of climacteric fruits such as apples, pears and bananas by inhibiting the effects of ethylene. Working with Chan, Daniel helped evaluate a novel dual-satchel controlled-release system designed to regulate the release of ethylene and 1-MCP, ultimately helping fresh produce reach consumers at its optimal stage of freshness while reducing food loss during transportation and storage.

Daniel also contributed to industry-funded studies evaluating modified-atmosphere packaging for fresh produce, investigating how factors such as heat-seal integrity, oxygen transmission and packaging defects influence product quality over time. In another research project, he helped evaluate antimicrobial packaging films for ready-to-eat foods by comparing shelf life, product quality and microbial activity between treated products and control samples.

For Daniel, the work demonstrated how research can have immediate practical applications.

“I’m particularly proud of working with real products you can find in the store and contributing data that influences commercial decisions,” he said.

The laboratory experience also transformed the way Daniel approached scientific problems.

“One of the biggest lessons I learned is that experiments rarely work exactly the way you expect them to the first time,” Burd said. “I learned to troubleshoot, analyze what was happening, adjust my approach and understand why something wasn’t working instead of simply repeating the same procedure.”

Daniel Burd preparing agar media for microbiological testing used to evaluate food safety and shelf life as a part of Dr. Kit Yam’s food packaging research in the Rutgers Food Science Building.

Those experiences reinforced concepts Daniel had encountered in courses such as Food Chemistry, Food Engineering, Food Microbiology and Food Analysis.

“In class, I learned why oxygen, moisture, temperature, microorganisms and packaging properties affect food stability,” Burd said. “In the lab, I was able to see those relationships directly. Concepts I learned in class became working knowledge that affected the decisions I made every day.”

Ironically, one of Daniel’s most challenging classes became one of the most valuable.

“Food Analysis was probably my least favorite course because it was difficult to understand why so many analytical techniques mattered,” he said. “Working in the lab with those same instruments gave me a completely different appreciation for what I had learned.”

Beyond technical expertise, Daniel says experiential learning strengthened skills that are difficult to develop in a traditional classroom.

“Besides developing technical skills, I learned how to communicate with my teammates, solve problems systematically and collaborate on decisions that affected not only my work, but the entire lab and the companies we worked with.”

One of Daniel’s proudest accomplishments wasn’t an experiment at all.

While working in the laboratory, Daniel helped mentor high school interns conducting research projects for the Regeneron Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF), one of the nation’s largest regional science competitions.

“It was incredibly rewarding teaching them and watching them gain independence in the laboratory,” he said.

Yam says Daniel’s experience illustrates the purpose of experiential learning at Rutgers.

“Daniel’s growth reflects the value of experiential learning in building curiosity, confidence and the ability to tackle real-world challenges,” said Yam.

That undergraduate experiential learning experience continues to shape Daniel’s career. He remains involved with Yam’s laboratory while pursuing his graduate studies and is contributing to the next phase of a USDA-backed research project focused on food-grade antimicrobial disinfectant technology designed to improve food safety during the pre- and post-harvest handling and distribution of fresh produce.

Looking ahead, Daniel hopes to build a career in food research and development where scientific discovery leads to practical innovations.

“I want to contribute to technologies that make food safer, higher quality and more sustainable,” Burd said. “This experience showed me that research isn’t about immediately finding answers. It’s about asking questions, working with others, testing ideas and continually improving. That’s the skill set I know I’ll need throughout my career.”

L-R: Dr. Richard Moses SEBS’12; Dr. Jenice Sabb, Cook College’87, retired Director of EOF; Mr. Frager Foster, retired Director of Cook College EOF; and Dr. Jacqueline Moore, current Director of SEBS EOF.

Four decades after its first summer program, the SEBS Educational Opportunity Fund’s Solid GEMS program continues to prepare students to succeed in science while building a community that extends well beyond graduation

Summer 2026 marked a significant milestone for the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program as Solid GEMS General Education in Mathematics and Science celebrated 40 years of preparing students for success in the sciences.

The anniversary was commemorated on July 26 at the Livingston Student Center, bringing together 66 alumni, current students, faculty, staff, administrators and supporters to celebrate a program whose impact has extended across generations.

Among those in attendance were 34 Solid GEMS alumni whose participation in the program spanned from its earliest years in 1986 through 2026. It was the largest gathering of Solid GEMS alumni at a single event in the history of the SEBS EOF Program and offered a powerful visual representation of the program’s enduring legacy.

For four decades, Solid GEMS has been rooted in a simple but consequential idea: students with talent and potential can excel in rigorous science disciplines when they are provided with the academic preparation, mentorship, community and opportunity to do so.

Alumni panelists at the Solid GEMS 40th anniversary event.

From “Diamonds in the Rough” to Solid GEMS

The history of Solid GEMS dates to 1980, when research and development began on an instructional approach designed to strengthen the performance of EOF students in introductory mathematics and science courses. The first Solid GEMS summer pilot program launched in 1986 through the EOF Program at Cook College in partnership with the Rutgers University Department of Chemistry.

The program’s name reflected both its academic purpose and its philosophy. GEMS General Education in Mathematics and Science represented the program’s focus on building a strong academic foundation, while “Solid GEMS” reflected the belief that students were like “diamonds in the rough”: individuals with tremendous potential who could flourish when provided innovative instruction and comprehensive academic support.

Built on research in student learning, the GEMS instructional model emphasized four stages New Problems, Exploration, Invention and Application designed to move students beyond memorization and toward critical thinking, problem-solving and scientific reasoning.

Solid GEMS was developed to improve achievement in introductory mathematics and science courses, increase retention, reduce attrition and encourage EOF students to persist in science-related majors. Historically, it served as the third component of an EOF student success model that began with a Pre-Freshman Summer Institute and continued with academic support during the first year.

Over time, the program evolved, but its central mission remained: prepare students not simply to pass challenging science courses, but to develop the skills and confidence to see themselves as capable scientists and STEM professionals.

A History Built on Being “Solid”

Mr. Frager Foster, retired Director of Cook College EOF, gave the keynote address at the 40th anniversary.

Frager Foster, who served as director of the SEBS EOF Program from 1981 to 2013, delivered the anniversary keynote address and took attendees back to the program’s beginnings. Foster connected the philosophy behind Solid GEMS to a much deeper cultural history.

“The connection between the Harlem Renaissance and the Solid GEMS Program is both meaningful and intentional,” Foster said. “Since the 1920s, the word solid has symbolized far more than strength. It represented trust, loyalty, reliability, and mutual responsibility.”

For Foster, the word captured what the program was designed to create among students, faculty and staff.

“To be solid meant being dependable, standing by one another, and producing results through consistency and integrity,” he said.

That philosophy became embedded in the culture of Solid GEMS. Students were challenged academically, but they were not expected to navigate those challenges alone. Faculty instruction, peer tutoring, collaborative learning, mentoring and community became integral parts of the experience.

The 40th anniversary celebration also honored the leadership that helped sustain that philosophy over four decades. Foster attended alongside Jenice Sabb-Dumas, who served as director from 2005 to 2021, and Jacqueline Moore, current assistant dean/director of the SEBS EOF Program and Solid GEMS director, who has served the program since 2006.

A presentation at the 40th anniversary event takes a look back at Solid GEMS.

Together with generations of faculty, staff, teaching fellows, tutors and supporters, their leadership represents the continuity that has allowed Solid GEMS to remain an important part of the SEBS EOF experience.

More Than a Chemistry Course

Today, Solid GEMS operates as a summer program, with intensive academic support designed to help students progress through foundational science coursework.

Its continued success was evident during the anniversary summer. In 2026, 12 residential Solid GEMS scholars participated in the 12-week Chemistry program, completing Chemistry Parts I and II. All 12 students successfully passed their courses a 100 percent success rate among the residential participants.

Yet the value of Solid GEMS cannot be measured by course grades alone.

The program combines rigorous coursework with collaborative learning, faculty engagement, peer tutoring and mentoring. Students develop study strategies, learn how to work through difficult scientific concepts and discover the importance of seeking academic support. Just as importantly, they build relationships with peers who are experiencing many of the same challenges.

That combination can change how students view themselves.

A difficult introductory science course can cause students to question whether they belong in a science major. Solid GEMS works to transform that uncertainty into confidence. Students leave the program having demonstrated to themselves that they can successfully complete demanding science coursework.

For many, completing chemistry through Solid GEMS does more than move them toward the next course in their academic sequence. It reinforces their belief that pursuing a science major is not only possible it is the right choice.

That sense of academic confidence and belonging is one of the program’s most important outcomes.

Forty Years of Alumni and Community

The 34 alumni who returned for the anniversary celebration demonstrated another important measure of Solid GEMS’ success: the community created during the program does not necessarily end when the summer ends or even when students graduate from Rutgers.

Over four decades, Solid GEMS alumni have gone on to careers and advanced study in medicine, research, science, healthcare, education and other professional fields. Some have returned to the program as mentors, tutors and supporters for the students coming behind them.

Solid GEMS alumni have developed into one of the SEBS EOF Program’s most established alumni communities, connected not simply by having participated in the same summer program but by a shared experience of perseverance, academic growth and mutual support.

That legacy can be seen in alumni such as Kevin Guerrero, SEBS’19, who previously credited Solid GEMS Biology House with providing his first laboratory experience. That opportunity helped spark his interest in research and contributed to a path that ultimately led him to medical school. Richard P. Moses, SEBS’12, similarly served as a teaching fellow for Solid GEMS Chemistry before going on to medical school and a career as a U.S. Navy anesthesiologist.

Solid GEMS alumni Dr. Esther Exantus ‘2015; Dr. Ashley Woolfork ‘2016; Dr. Jenice Sabb Cook College ‘1987; Mr. Frager Foster; Dr. Jacqueline Moore; and alumna Ms. Francia Noel ‘2015.

Their stories illustrate the long-term impact that an early academic opportunity can have on a student’s trajectory.

Protecting the Next 40 Years

As Solid GEMS celebrates its history, the anniversary also provides an opportunity to consider its future.

The program is now offered during the summer, when students can focus intensively on foundational science coursework and receive the academic support that has distinguished Solid GEMS for four decades. But providing that experience has become increasingly expensive.

The costs associated with summer tuition, housing, instructional support, tutoring, programming, food and other student needs continue to rise. Without sufficient resources, the number of students who can participate and the level of comprehensive support the program can provide can be limited.

Continued institutional, state, alumni and philanthropic support will therefore be essential to sustaining and strengthening Solid GEMS for future generations.

The SEBS EOF Program is grateful to the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education and the EOF administration for its continued support of Solid GEMS and its role in sustaining a program that has made a meaningful difference in students’ lives for four decades.

The need that inspired Solid GEMS in 1986 remains relevant today. Students arrive at Rutgers with ability, ambition and dreams of careers in science, healthcare, research and other STEM fields. What can make the difference is access to the preparation, mentorship and community that allow those abilities to develop.

In closing the 40th anniversary celebration, Moore reflected on the principle that has sustained Solid GEMS throughout its history: talent exists in every community, but opportunity can change the trajectory of a life.

Solid GEMS provides more than academic instruction. It gives students an environment in which they can struggle with challenging material, learn from those struggles, support one another and ultimately experience success. Through that process, students develop confidence, resilience, belonging and the academic skills needed to continue progressing in the sciences.

Forty years after the first summer pilot program, the meaning behind the name remains remarkably fitting.

The students are the gems. The academic preparation helps them shine. And the community surrounding them remains solid.

The 2026 Summer School on Sustainability Governance cohort gathers at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, August 24–28, 2026.

Week-long program brought together researchers working on ocean and fisheries governance, energy justice, Indigenous land rights, food systems, and climate policy from institutions across the United States and the globe

From August 24 to 28, the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University–New Brunswick hosted its second annual Summer School on Sustainability Governance, bringing nearly 30 doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scholars to campus for a week of intensive training, collaborative discussions, and interdisciplinary cohort-building.

Organized by Human Ecology faculty Pamela McElwee, professor, and Rachael Shwom, professor and department chair, and supported by the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute (RCEI) and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, the program addresses a growing need for graduate training that equips emerging scholars to understand governance challenges across disciplines and knowledge systems. Building on a successful inaugural cohort in 2024, this year’s summer school continued to strengthen an international network of researchers working to translate social science insights into practical governance solutions for an increasingly complex world. The program reflects the Department of Human Ecology’s growing leadership in interdisciplinary research that examines how institutions, communities, and policy systems respond to complex environmental and societal challenges.

Participants present their working-group models of governance systems during a hands-on session.

Participants were selected from a competitive pool of more than 140 applicants and represented nearly 25 universities and research institutions in the United States, Canada, and beyond. Their research spans topics including ocean and fisheries governance, Indigenous land rights, energy justice, food systems, climate policy, and environmental governance, with fieldwork taking place in locations ranging from the Amazon and Indonesia to coastal Ghana, the Andes, and communities across the United States.

Though their research sites and methods differed widely, participants shared a common concern: how societies govern shared resources and collective risks under conditions of rapid environmental change.

“These scholars are all wrestling with a version of the same problem: how do you govern shared resources fairly and effectively when the scale of the crisis keeps outpacing the abilities of our current institutions?” said McElwee, professor of Human Ecology and co-organizer of the summer school.

Participants brought a remarkable breadth of expertise. Ana Lucia Araujo Raurau, a doctoral student in geography at Clark University, examines how governance of Indigenous territories in Amazonia shapes forest stewardship. Ahmad Hidayat of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studies forest carbon markets in Indonesia, while Aline Bravo, a PhD student in anthropology at the University of Southern California, researches how changing water availability affects communities and ecosystems in northern Chile. Gustavo Valdivia, an anthropologist and filmmaker from Peru, shared his work on the Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Andes, the largest tropical glacier on Earth.

Participants present their working-group findings during another interactive session.

Energy governance was another major area of focus. Samuel Ayivi (University of Connecticut) researches offshore wind development and community trust, while Ben Williamson (Montana State University) examines how privately built transmission lines are reshaping the politics of energy infrastructure in the Northern Plains. Anna Demina (Columbia University) studies smart microgrids and socio-political decision-making, and Sindhura Polepalli (University of Miami), a former maritime legal consultant to the Government of India, researches global shipping emissions and equity in ocean governance.

Rutgers was also represented in the cohort. Wan Chantavilasvong, a doctoral candidate in Geography, studies coastal urbanization and marine ecology across Southeast Asia, while Chun-ching Tu, a doctoral student in Sociology, researches the emergence of transnational climate finance governance.

The week-long program combined plenary sessions, faculty-led discussions, structured working groups, and professional development activities that encouraged participants to strengthen their own research while building collaborations across disciplines. Highlights included participant “speed talks,” interdisciplinary faculty panels on governance in health, climate, marine law, and geography, an evening conversation with Ana Baptista, director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School and a nationally recognized expert on environmental justice, and hands-on skills sessions led by Rutgers faculty covering survey methods, geospatial analysis, machine learning, science communication, and stakeholder engagement.

Participants in the 2026 summer school outside the IFNH building on the Rutgers SEBS campus.

The program concluded with peer review, proposal workshopping, and discussions of career pathways inside and outside academia, reflecting its emphasis on preparing scholars to connect research with real-world governance and policy.

“Our goal was to send these incredible attendees back to their home institutions with a network of peers working on parallel problems around the world, so that the collaborations can continue on after this week and lead to sustained engagement and new partnerships,” said Shwom, co-organizer of the summer school and chair of the Department of Human Ecology.

For many participants, building that interdisciplinary community proved to be one of the week’s greatest benefits.

“The complex challenges of the Anthropocene cannot be adequately understood through a single disciplinary lens. Meaningful collaboration across disciplines, academic levels, and cultural perspectives is essential for producing research that is both intellectually rigorous and socially relevant,” said Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, a doctoral candidate in Environmental Sociology at Utah State University.

“It expanded my intellectual community and, more importantly, connected me with colleagues who share an ethical commitment to more just and grounded approaches to sustainability,” said Gustavo Valdivia-Corrales, an anthropologist, filmmaker, and lecturer at Universidad del Pacífico in Peru who leads a project with the Ohio State University Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center on the Quelccaya Ice Cap.

Now in its second year, the Summer School on Sustainability Governance is designed to build the capacity of early-career researchers to work across disciplinary boundaries while strengthening a global network of scholars committed to translating social science research into equitable and effective environmental policy and practice. The inaugural program was supported by the National Science Foundation, while this year’s program was funded internally by Rutgers. Organizers are seeking additional support to sustain and expand the initiative in the years ahead.

Sue Beurskens, Rutgers Cook College, Class of 1992, has donated everything from whole blood to platelets and plasma.

As the U.S. faces a blood supply crisis, one Scarlet Knight has made it her mission to help provide critical blood donations. Sue Beurskens, associate athletic director for marketing, has been a blood donor since 1993 and has logged over 150 donations over those three decades.

What began as a chance encounter has evolved into a decades-long commitment to helping others through this lifesaving act. While working at one of her first jobs at Herman’s World of Sporting Goods, the company was conducting a blood drive and needed one more pint to reach their goal. Beurskens was approached to put the company over their 40-pint goal and initially she didn’t think she would be a suitable candidate, but it turned out she was the ideal person.

From that point on, a super donor was born. Beurskens, who graduated from Rutgers Cook College in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science & Sports Studies, has donated everything from whole blood to platelets and plasma. Her A+ blood type makes her the perfect candidate for platelet donations, which she has committed to providing on a regular basis. “You never know when you might need it,” said Beurskens. “I’d like to know that it would be there if I ever needed a blood transfusion. Any of my family members who have needed it, they’ve been able to get it. It’s just one of those things, doing something good for another human being.”

Rutgers Athletics is teaming up with Abbott and the Big Ten Conference for the “We Give Blood” drive, a nationwide competition to help address the blood supply shortage. The 18 Big Ten schools are vying for the most recorded donations with the winning institution earning a $1 million grant from Abbott to advance student or community health.

Blood donations at any blood center in the U.S. between August 12 through December 4 can count toward the competition. Donors in the New Brunswick area are encouraged to attend any of the upcoming drives:

• 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sept. 16, Commons at the Yard, 40 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
• 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sept. 17, Commons at the Yard, 40 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
• 12 p.m. – 6 p.m., Oct. 6, Rutgers College Avenue Gym, 130 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ

Beurskens was inspired at a young age while watching her grandmother battle an illness that required blood donations, which a family friend came forward to provide. At seven years old, Beurskens remembers watching that series of events and being fascinated by the process. Years later, her mother became sick and needed transfusions as part of her treatment. Those two experiences reinforced the significance of giving back in this way.

“It’s very important to me,” said Beurskens.

Over her decades of donating blood, Beurskens knows her efforts have gone a long way toward saving the lives of others. On one occasion, she had the rare opportunity to witness that impact firsthand. In a full-circle moment, Beurskens was able to help the son of a family friend with a platelet donation while he was seriously ill and in need.

“One whole blood donation can save up to three lives,” said Beurskens. “Platelets are more used for cancer patients, so because of my mom’s history it was a big thing for me.”

Beurskens remembers hitting the 100-donation mark just prior to the pandemic and in the six years since she has almost matched that number. While much of the world was shut down, the critical need to support the blood supply continued and Beurskens saw it as an ideal opportunity to increase her volunteerism. Her personal and professional schedules didn’t provide many avenues to give back but during the pandemic, being able to donate blood became her calling.

“I don’t have a lot of time to volunteer as much as I would like with other things,” said Beurskens. “So, I consider this my way of volunteering and giving back in some shape or form.”

She has continued that commitment, making her most recent donation on Sunday, September 13 – her 158th donation and counting.

Text GIVEBLOOD to 222688 to register your donation through the Abbott/Big Ten We Give Blood campaign and select Rutgers as your school of choice to help the Scarlet Knights win. 

This article first appeared on the ScarletKnights website.

Kelly Shanklin, SEBS Class of 2030. Photo: Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University

Kelly Shanklin’s road to Rutgers–New Brunswick has been measured in miles and defined by persistence.

The 17-year-old from Clinton Township enters Rutgers–New Brunswick as an Honors College student studying biology on the pre-med track and as a member of the Scarlet Knights women’s cross country and track and field teams.

Shanklin’s curiosity about medicine began during her freshman biology class at North Hunterdon High School.

“I just kind of fell in love with the subject,” she said. “I had a really great teacher who got me very interested in it.”

That same year Shanklin discovered another passion. After playing volleyball in middle school she decided to give cross country a try instead. She quickly emerged as one of New Jersey’s top distance runners.

One of her most memorable early races came on Holmdel Park’s notoriously challenging cross-country course where Shanklin lost a shoe but finished the 5K anyway.

“I got flat tired,” she said. “It was my first time running a cross country 5K, so it was definitely interesting.”

Her resilience would be tested more seriously two years later. Shanklin broke her foot near the end of her junior year cross-country season and underwent surgery the following February. 

“There were definitely times when I doubted if I would be able to get back into the shape I once was,” she said. “But I just continued working hard.”

By the end of her senior track season that work paid off. Shanklin surpassed her previous personal best in the mile, a feat that taught her lessons she will carry to Rutgers and hopefully into a career in medicine.

“Cross country and track and field have definitely taught me a lot about grit and persistence,” Shanklin said. “It also showed me how important it is to keep putting in the work even when you’re not seeing the results that you want.”

Rutgers carries a family connection. Her mother is a Rutgers alumna and current doctoral student. 

“I’m very excited about this new chapter in my life,” she said. “I get to meet new people, try new things. It’s just an exciting new experience.”

This article first appeared in the full Rutgers Today feature, Rutgers Class of 2030 Is Ready to Change the World.

Incoming Rutgers students Priya Soundar and William Bertch tour the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition & Health building on Cook Campus as part of their New Student Orientation session. Soundar and Bertch will join the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences this fall. Photo: Nick Romanenko

New Student Orientation helps thousands of incoming students find community, confidence and their place on campus

In a matter of days, a small city’s worth of new first-year and transfer students will converge on Rutgers University–New Brunswick from across New Jersey, America and the world.

Nearly 7,000 of those incoming students have taken a simple step for a head start on their college transition: Over the summer, they attended two-day New Student Orientation sessions offered by Student Orientation and Transition Programs within the Division of Student Affairs.

According to post-orientation surveys, four of five attendees said the orientation helped them feel more confident about starting at Rutgers; make new friends they’ll meet up with during the first days of the new semester; and feel prouder than ever about joining one of the nation’s top-ranked public universities.

For Priya Soundar, an incoming pre-med student from small-town in New Hampshire, New Student Orientation was about making this vast, faraway institution feel smaller, friendlier and more like home.

“I chose Rutgers because it offers so many research opportunities that can help my path to a medical career, but I was afraid of making friends and fitting in,” said Soundar, who will attend the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “So many Rutgers students are from New Jersey. As someone from out of state, I wanted to make sure I could become part of the community.”

By the end of orientation, those worries faded.

“It wasn’t just the tours that helped us feel comfortable on campus, or learning about the resources that help students,” Soundar said. “We made so many friends within our orientation group. I made friends in the suite I stayed in overnight. All of us ended up meeting so many new people and having so many conversations we might not otherwise have had.”

Student Affairs held more than 20 New Student Orientation sessions between June and August, hosting more than 300 incoming students per session for walking and bus tours, small group icebreakers and games, and personalized information sessions. 

Attendees learn to fill out course schedules, keep track of their academic progress, and manage financial aid information. 

They discover student success resources that will help them stay on track amid the ups and downs of campus life—from Academic Advising and the Learning Centers, to Student Health and counseling services; from the One Stop Student Services Center to the Offices of the Dean of Students–Advocacy, Outreach, and Support; from Career Exploration and Success to the Student Basic Needs Center.

They learn the intricacies of Rutgers’ busing and parking systems, what to bring for living on campus, how to make the most of life as a commuter student, and how to make the most of their meal plans.

Read more in the original news article published on the Division of Student Affairs.