LaGuardia Community College, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and NY Sun Works Celebrate Opening of Hydroponic Research Lab
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (January 24, 2024) — LaGuardia Community College/CUNY, in collaboration with Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (NY-7th District) and NY Sun Works, has opened a new hydroponic research lab on campus where tomorrow’s climate champions will be trained. The lab is one of the first at a community college in NYC. Congresswoman Velázquez, NY Sun Works Director Manuela Zamora, and LaGuardia leadership, professors, and students attended a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, January 23, marking the lab’s opening.
The hydroponic research lab at LaGuardia is both a classroom and research space. It is outfitted with equipment provided by NY Sun Works, a non-profit that builds innovative science labs in urban schools. On February 17, 2023, NY Sun Works announced that it had received $800,000 in Community Project Funding from Congresswoman Velázquez to expand climate and sustainability education throughout Queens and Brooklyn. LaGuardia is the one of 20 schools, and the only college, to be selected for a hydroponic lab. The remaining schools serve K–12 students.
“LaGuardia Community College is committed to educating students to help them find sustainable solutions to problems in today’s world,” said Kenneth Adams, President of LaGuardia Community College. “We are proud to expand opportunities for students to explore STEM fields through this partnership with NY Sun Works and with the generous support of Congressmember Velázquez. Hydroponic farms offer a pathway towards a more sustainable food ethic that prioritizes the health of our food, bodies, and environment without the heavy use of chemicals.”
“I’m proud to have secured funding for hydroponic classrooms in twenty schools in my district including a lab at LaGuardia Community College to round out its Environmental Science–Sustainable Urban Agriculture program,” said Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07). “LaGuardia’s new hydroponic research lab will help train educators to pass along their knowledge in hydroponic systems and launch these projects in more classrooms so more students can learn about local food production, healthy eating, climate, and sustainability. I’m so glad to see LaGuardia making this a part of their offering, and I thank all the leadership and staff at the college and New York Sun Works for making this happen.”
“We are excited to welcome LaGuardia Community College to our cohort of Queens schools and provide hands-on climate and sustainability education through state-of-the-art hydroponics technology for the city’s young learners,” said NY Sun Works Executive Director Manuela Zamora. “Our urban farms strive to encourage students to explore opportunities and experiences in STEM. We are committed to empowering a new generation of scientists, climate advocates and community leaders to create solutions to local and global resource challenges.”
“Hydroponics, a type of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), is the future of farming,” said Dr. Preethi Radhakrishnan, professor of biological sciences and director of LaGuardia’s Environmental Science program. “It involves automated, vertical farming, where plants are grown in a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil. Hydroponics offers many advantages over traditional farming in an urban setting—it requires significantly less land, uses 70–95% less water, enables higher crop density—resulting in better quality, nutrient-dense produce. There’s a lot of technical skill required to grow in CEA. Our students will learn about the nutrient composition needed for growing, and how this need changes based on the stage of the plant. They will also study integrated pest management, biocontrol, and research nutrient loads and content of produce and root zone environments.”
The new hydroponic research lab “will provide valuable learning and employment opportunities for Environmental Science students, especially those in our Sustainable Urban Agriculture track,” added Dr. Radhakrishnan. “We’re doing something unique and innovative by teaching them three different kinds of farming in three different urban ecosystems. We’re in the process of building an urban farm on campus—where students will learn traditional, regenerative, land-based farming. Through our collaboration with Sky Farm (formerly known as Brooklyn Grange) in Long Island City, students learn about rooftop farming and green infrastructure. And now with this new hydroponic research lab, thanks to NY Sun Works and Congresswoman Velázquez, we’ll teach them about CEA, grounded in advancing equity in food systems as a whole including food law and policy, through the lens of climate resilience.”
NY Sun Works delivers inquiry-based science and sustainability education through the lens of urban farming. The goals are to support each school’s long-term capacity to deliver a high-quality science program; optimize students’ learning experience in the hydroponic classroom; and expand access to fresh produce for students and their families, while covering the Common Core, Scope and Sequence and EfS science standards. Hydroponic technology is indoor vertical farming that enables the cultivation of plants in an indoor environment. Rather than from the sun, plants receive energy from LED lighting that is tailored specifically to the energy needs of the plants. Instead of using soil, seeds are planted in soil-free growth mediums.
Partner schools like LaGuardia Community College will receive ongoing professional development training for science educators and weekly visits from a hydroponic specialist to guide teachers in hydroponic systems maintenance, provide planting, harvest, and produce distribution support; and clean, prep, and troubleshoot systems
“The NY Sun Works team has been extremely helpful training our faculty and staff to use the new hydroponic equipment and helping us plan how ways to incorporate it into curriculum,” said Dr. Radhakrishnan. “We’re excited about the new hydroponic research lab, which we expect to benefit the entire LaGuardia community. Students will have a new opportunity for hands-on research in the curriculum experiences. The produce we grow may be shared with the cafeteria to add new healthy options or given to students and community members in need through the LaGuardia CARES pantry or served to children in LaGuardia’s on-campus day-care. Ultimately, we plan to graduate the future of urban agriculture and climate leaders.”
• • • •
NY Sun Works is a not-for-profit organization that builds hydroponic classrooms in city schools to teach the science of sustainability through urban farming. Through our comprehensive curriculum, we engage K-12th grade students and educators in hands-on, standards-based sustainability and climate education. We are dedicated to bringing high-quality education to the communities where it’s most needed and envision a generation of environmental innovators, empowered to create solutions to 21st-century climate challenges. Our first hydroponic classroom opened in 2010; today, we’re partnered with over 300 schools and reach more than 100,000 students annually in New York City and the metro area.
LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 degrees and certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to educate New Yorkers seeking new skills and careers. As an institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of underserved populations. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students while providing them with access to a high quality, affordable college education.
####