Welcome to our College Internship in Suburban Ecology
(CISE) Summer Interns
The College Internship in Suburban Ecology Program (CISE) offers summer internships to college students and recent graduates who are interested in learning about the unique challenges facing urban/suburban natural resource managers. Through a variety of research and land management projects, interns are trained in the skills needed to pursue a successful career in the environmental sciences.
Kris Yee, from Ardsley, is a senior at SUNY Brockport where he is an Environmental Science major with a concentration in aquatic and terrestrial ecology.
Kris will be dedicated to putting together an Early Detection Rapid Response Guide for Tier 1 and Tier 2 invasive species for Mianus River Gorge and Lower Hudson PRISM.
Sam Badia, from Somers, is a rising junior at University of Delaware where she is an Environmental Studies major.
Sam is identifying photos of deer taken with our trail cameras to sort out bucks, does, spikes, and fawns and trying to specifically identify bucks to estimate the population of the deer herd in Mianus River Gorge Preserve.
Gowri Anand, from Great Neck, is a rising senior at New York University where she is majoring in Biology with a concentration in ecology.
Gowri is also focusing on MRG’s deer management program (DMP).
Manny Benitez, from Elmsford, is a rising junior at SUNY Oneonta where he is majoring in Biology with a concentration in ecology and conservation.
Manny is working on a forest composition inventory, focusing on the second-growth forest in the Preserve.
As a bonus for MRG, we have a volunteer from Katonah, Nicole Dickan, who heard Chris Nagy give a talk last semester at Canisius College where she is a senior studying Animal Behavior Ecology & Conservation and Psychology. Nicole is digitizing a historical publication of the flora and fauna of the Gorge so it can be used for further study and is more easily accessible.
They all will be helping with the ongoing work of invasive species management, trail maintenance, and other projects as the summer progresses.
Once again, the interns were chosen from yet another impressive group of students who applied through a competitive application process. We enjoy have the interns here over the summer and are confident they will learn a lot from their MRG mentors in this unparalleled program.
Thank you to the generous supporters of Mianus River Gorge’s award-winning Research & Education Program.