This past summer, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) provided two Stony Brook University students with hands-on experience alongside scientists, community groups and government agencies through the 2026 Community Engaged Internship (CEI). Fellows worked on projects with mentors while engaging directly with the public and NYSG partners.
As a wetlands field data Collection CEI fellow, Rhianna Jackson — a Fall 2026 senior at Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SOMAS) majoring in environmental design, policy, and planning — monitored natural and nature-based features along Long Island coastal shorelines in the Bronx and Queens, assisting with field work and educational outreach in the Long Island Sound Watershed.
Jackson worked closely with mentor Lillit Genovesi, NYSG outreach coordinator, Long Island Sound Partnership, NYC and Westchester County, on outreach related to Long Island Sound. This included assisting with educational programs at City Island Oyster Reef, an environmental non-profit dedicated to restoring native oyster populations, as well as Sound Stewards programs for K-12 students at various Long Island Sound Partnership Stewardship Sites in NYC.
“We would have groups of school-aged children come and teach them about the estuary,” Jackson said of her experience as an educator. “While a lot of [the children] were aware that they lived near the Long Island Sound, they didn’t know that it was [an] estuary and they didn’t know a lot of the importance of the estuary.”
In addition, Jackson worked with children at the Bronx Children’s Museum, guided students at Orchard Beach, demonstrated watershed movement using an EnviroScape model and refined a sewershed map, which is similar to what the EnviroScape is showing.
Jackson also worked with the Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC) on living shoreline analysis, interviewing stakeholders — such as NYS Parks, the New York Restoration Project and Rocking the Boat — to evaluate whether shorelines successfully prevent erosion and flooding. She also developed case studies for specific sites.
“We’re collecting [historical] data on the use [of living shorelines] and data on the size. We want to put all that together to provide to people after we’re done so that they can see more information about these sites and whether they were successful,” she said. “This has been one of my favorite parts of the summer — looking at actual sites and seeing how our work is actually applying to the things that we’re seeing on paper.”
When asked about her 10-year vision, Jackson answered without hesitation. “Ten years from now, I can see myself most likely working in a park site, helping them to restore the areas that are a bit more dilapidated than others,” she said. “ I can see myself working in parks, helping them raise the money for [the work], and helping them maintain these areas that are becoming overgrown with invasive species.”
As a waterways ambassador on the East End of Long Island, Matthew Johnson — a Fall 2026 senior in SOMAS majoring in marine science with minors in environmental studies and political science — helped a local community science group monitor suspicious freshwater algae while building a HABs toolbox to communicate hazards to the public.
“ Essentially, the project that I was working on was creating a media sheet for suspicious algae in freshwater as a way to communicate with stakeholders about what harmful algal blooms (HABs) are, their effects and causes, and how to report them if you think you see one,” Johnson explained.
To collect data, Johnson assisted with Adopt-a-Pond fieldwork, sampling local freshwater sources and using equipment like a YSI device to measure dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-A content. When harmful algal blooms (HABs) were suspected, samples were analyzed at the Gobler Lab on the Stony Brook Southampton campus. Detected toxic levels were forwarded to the NYSDEC to notify local communities.
“One of the main aspects of this internship was finding ways to interact with the community about harmful algal blooms,” Johnson explained, noting that HABs pose risks to both humans and animals, but response time can often be significantly delayed. “One of the ways that I helped is by creating a GIS map to show which freshwater systems needed higher priority for reporting and general surveillance.”
“Something that really stood out to me through this program was the field days, because it was very interesting seeing all the different freshwater systems that exist around Long Island, and how many different ponds and creeks there are in the area,” he said. Johnson, who is from Georgia and previously believed that Long Island was predominantly focused on marine systems, notes that his training this summer helped him see things from a different perspective. “I hope to explore this area of research more as I progress through my undergraduate program.”
Johnson, who is particularly interested in estuarine ecosystems, feels the internship provided valuable preparation for his future career.
Between field sampling, Johnson assisted mentor Antoinette Clemetson, NYSG marine fisheries specialist, in teaching classes for the Marine Summer Field Trip Program at Jones Beach and developed the HABs media sheet. Reflecting on his favorite sampling location, Mattituck Creek, Johnson noted its vibrant wildlife.
“You don’t even know how many ospreys are there — I’d say 20 at least. And it’s not just them; there are also geese and ducks and cormorants, and I think I’ve seen a great blue heron. It’s just nice to be able to get that close to wildlife.”
For more on this past summer’s CEI fellows, read NYSG’s recent story as well as one from the fellows “in their own words.”
New York Sea Grant
New York Sea Grant, with offices at Stony Brook University, is a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York, and is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.
— Sumayyah Uddin, NYSG
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