Staff

Cornell Campus

located at

Bradfield Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-1901

Susan J. Riha, Director
Email: sjr4@cornell.edu, Telephone: 607-255-3034

Susan Riha
Director
NYS Water Resources Institute

Susan RihaSusan is a professor in the Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University. She received her PhD in Soil Science from Washington State University in 1980 and shortly after joined the Cornell faculty as the Charles L. Pack Research Professor of Forest Soils. Her research interests are in soil-plant-atmosphere relations and in dynamic simulation modeling of the impact of the environment on plants. She works on both environmental and plant production problems on the state, national and international levels. She has served as co-chair of the Dept. of Earth and Atmospherics Sciences and the Director for Sponsored Research for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Andrew McDonald, Research Coordinator (CV)
Email: ajm9@cornell.edu, Telephone: 607-255-5267

Mary Jane Porter, Outreach/Education Coordinator
Email: mjp4@cornell.edu, Telephone: 607-255-5944

Mary Jane Porter
Senior Extension Associate
Outreach/Education Coordinator
NYS Water Resources Institute

Mary Jane PorterMary Jane has served as a technical resource person, program manager, and outreach/ education coordinator with the NYS Water Resources Institute at Cornell since the early 1980s. She currently manages WRI's Competitive Grants Program, and co-manages the Hudson River Estuary Program and the NY Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Hailing from Long Island, Mary Jane joined the NYS Water Resources Institute after 16 years at the Suffolk County Cooperative Extension.

Julie Lauren, Research Coordinator (Reactive Nitrogen)
Email: jgl5@cornell.edu, Telephone: 607-255-1727

Hudson River Estuary Program

located at

21 South Putt Corners Road
New Paltz, NY 12561

Christopher Bowser, Science Education Specialist
Email: chbowser@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-5041

Scott Cuppett, Watershed Program Manager
Email: swcuppet@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-3029

Kevin Grieser, Riparian Buffer Coordinator (CV)
Email: kagriese@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-3145

Kevin Grieser
Riparian Buffer Coordinator
Hudson River Estuary Program

Kevin GrieserKevin is the Riparian Buffer Coordinator of the Hudson River Estuary Program, having joined Cornell University and the New York Water Resources Institute in February of 2007. Kevin's primary focus is furthering the goals and objectives of the Hudson River Action Agenda's section on "Streams and Tributaries of the Hudson River Estuary Watershed". He is currently working on a new initiative called "Trees for Tribs", focusing on replanting riparian buffers in the Hudson Valley, as well as, a riparian buffer mapping/characterization project with additional Cornell University faculty.

Barbara Kendall, Watershed Special Projects Coordinator
Email: blkendal@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-3163

Sherri Mackey, Administrative Assistant
Email: slmackey@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-3016

Kristin Marcell, Special Projects Coordinator (CV)
Email: kamarcel@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-3017

Steve Stanne, Interpretive/Education Coordinator
Email: spstanne@gw.dec.state.ny.us, Telephone: 845-256-3077

Steve Stanne
Interpretive/Education Coordinator
Hudson River Estuary Program

Steve Stanne Through WRI's partnership with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, extension associate Steve Stanne works at the Hudson River Estuary Program in New Paltz, NY, where he is building capacity for teaching about the estuary in schools, nature centers, museums, and public spaces along the Hudson. His efforts include teacher training, writing lesson plans, creating a network of river educators, managing grants to environmental education providers, and publishing the weekly Hudson River Almanac natural history newsletter. Steve joined WRI and the Estuary Program in 1999 after 19 years as education director for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

Kristin Marcell
Special Projects Coordinator
Hudson River Estuary Program

Kristin works for Cornell's Water Resources Institute in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) Hudson River Estuary Program, a unique regional partnership designed to restore and conserve the Hudson River. The Estuary Program works closely with state, federal, and local partners to carry out the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda, a blueprint for the cleanup of the Hudson. Kristin's primary role in the Program is to work with the New York State Climate Change Policy Office and key stakeholders in the Hudson Valley to coordinate an effort to address the causes and impacts of climate change at the regional level. Kristin has a Master's degree in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University and a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Clark University. Prior to getting her Master's degree she spent four years doing field research for the USFWS, USGS, and Massachusetts Audubon.

NY Project WET


Amy Smith, Water Education Specialist
Rogers Environmental Education Center
2721 State Highway 80
Sherburne, NY 13460
Telephone: 607-674-4017, Fax: 607-674-2655
Email: aesmith@gw.dec.state.ny.us

Diana (Dee) Strnisa, Water Education Specialist
Five Rivers Environmental Education Center
56 Game Farm Road
Delmar, NY 12054
Telephone: 518-475-0291, Fax: 518-475-0293
Email: distrnis@gw.dec.state.ny.us

Vacant (to be filled in 2008)
Stony Kill Farm Environmental Education Center
79 Farmstead Lane
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Telephone: 845-831-8780, Fax: 845-831-3416

NYC Watershed


Mike Rafferty, Water Research Engineer
11939 Duanesburg Road
Delanson, NY, 12053
Email: mrraffer@empireone.net, Telephone/Fax: 518-895-9074