The 113-acre biological field station allows Fordham students, both graduate and undergraduate, to conduct hands-on research with faculty, said director Tom Daniels, Ph.D., during a virtual tour for parents, alumni, students, and friends held in November.

“We’re one of the few field stations in the country this close to an urban center,” Daniels said. “The mission of the Calder Center, in terms of what studies [are done or not]is entirely at the discretion of our faculty. Their interests are what drives that work here, both in terms of the focus their labs take and in the research projects that the students are working on.”

The tour took the viewers through the Calder Center property, showing off photos of the research facilities, natural beauty, and office space. Daniels narrated to tell those in attendance about the facility’s history, how it’s currently used, what research is ongoing, and what wildlife lives on site.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has put some of their work on hold, Daniels said that the center is hoping to re-engage with volunteers in 2021 to conduct new initiatives, including a “bioblitz,” which will help identify the many different species of plants and wildlife on the property, and a phenology trail, which would help record the life cycle of various species of plants.

“It’s up to us to train everybody about ecology, it doesn’t have to be to understand research protocols like you [biologists]do, but just share your experiences out in the field,” said Schuler, who is director of the botanical garden’s Thain Family Forest.

Nevertheless, Schuler said that in addition to sharing anecdotes with the general public, further engaging them through research holds the potential to transform the science and deepen awareness.

At the Thain Family Forest, volunteers have helped monitor and restore the forest, planting more than 34,000 native species. Tracking invasive species, as well as natives, involved measuring everything in the 50-acre forest that had grown a meter or higher, Schuler said. It was a herculean task that would’ve overwhelmed Schuler and her fulltime staff of two. But since 2008, NYBG engaged hundreds of students and volunteers—citizen scientists—to obtain data sets that helped map out that forest restoration.

Schuler said volunteers in the citizen science program help to document the timing of events in the forest across the seasons, which can reveal important trends. Tracking a tree from when it flowers to when it produces fruit to when its leaves turn color in the fall can help produce a long-term data set that could provide indicators of global warming, for example. She stressed that the garden employs quality control to maintain “the validity of data science, in terms of phenology.”

“Once you get in there to establish these programs, they run and run well,” she said, adding that seasoned volunteers can train others. Plus, practicing science as a volunteer fosters awareness, she said.

Tom Daniels, Ph.D., director of the Calder Center, agreed. “We need a more scientifically literate society and citizen scientists are the way to go,” he said.

20 Years of Undergraduate Research

For the past 20 years, Calder’s Undergraduate Research Program has allowed Fordham students to become citizen scientists themselves as they delved deep into the forests, rivers, lakes, city streets, and labs, in search of answers to research questions. This anniversary year was no different. Ten students took a data-driven look at the metropolitan region’s ecology this summer through a variety of experiments. From tying the roots of pediatric asthma in the Bronx to traffic data, to examining the effects of urbanization on blood glucose in pigeons, to observing seasonal patterns of photosynthesis on American beachgrass, the day’s subjects were as diverse as the city itself.

Engaging High School Students

Though the primary focus of the symposium was on the hard work conducted by undergraduates, this year a group of budding high school scientists were at the symposium to show the results of their Calder Center research for the first time. Their work underscored the focus of Schuler’s talk.

“Think globally; act locally,” she said. “Connecting students to nature teaches them that their data can make a difference and change policy.”

The idea to invite New York City high school students to participate in the Calder-sponsored program came from Patricio Meneses, Ph.D., associate professor of biology. After a meeting in May with Chief Diversity Officer Rafael Zapata, Meneses ran into Renaldo Alba on campus. Alba is the associate director of the University’s CSTEP/STEP program, which prepares minority students for careers in science, engineering, technology, and licensed professions. Within hours, Meneses secured financial sponsorship from Zapata’s office and recruited talented high school students from Alba’s program.

“We wanted to make sure the students would be paid for their research, so they didn’t have to take another summer job,” he said.

By June, selected student began hearing about their internships. That month, Meneses also recruited professors from chemistry, biology, and psychology. Work began in earnest in early July.

Kelechi D. Nnaji, a senior at Mount Vernon High School, researched how plants can be natural filters for polluted water. He’s been in the STEP program since seventh grade. The sumertime program brings students in grades 7 through 12 to Fordham for five weeks of college prep classes. He said the program familiarized him with the college campuses and helped him mature a bit faster than some of his peers.

“I’ve essentially experienced college life and even though I don’t go to the best school I do get excellent grades and I do really great things,” he said. “This is like my millionth time on campus.”

For Joshleen Cruzado, a senior at Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem, the program presented a rare opportunity.

“I’ve done research before but it was a retrospective, because the data was already there, but now I’m ready to do data myself,” she said beaming before her poster analyzing proteins of the HPV virus. “For women and minorities like me, we don’t get the opportunities to do these things, but because of this program we got that opportunity.”

Daniels, associate research scientist in Fordham’s Department of Biological Sciences, took the reins from John Wehr, Ph.D., professor of biology, on Jan. 1. Wehr, who has overseen the doubling of the center staff and the construction of a 3,800 square-foot, 12-bed, log cabin-style residence for graduate researchers, has served as Calder’s director since 1986. A renowned limnologist, Wehr has also overseen research projects in the center’s 10-acre lake and in lakes and streams across the nation.

Tom Daniels, left, will direct Fordham’s Calder Center, taking the reins from John Wehr, right. Both men are among Calder’s most senior researchers.
Photos by Bruce Gilbert (left) and Bill Denison

The Calder Center is 25 miles north of New York City and consists of 113 forested acres and a 10-acre lake. It is one of the few field stations in North America with relatively undisturbed natural communities near a large urban center. Calder supports scientific and interdisciplinary research in ecology, evolution, and conservation, and provides hands-on education for students of diverse backgrounds and academic levels. The center was established in 1967 on the former estate of Louis Calder, chairman of the Perkins-Goodwin Company.

Daniels earned his doctorate in biology in 1987 at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and joined Fordham as an adjunct professor in 1994. He is currently the co-director of the Vector Ecology Laboratory at Calder, where he and fellow co-director Richard Falco, Ph.D., lead a team of scientists and students in researching disease-carrying insects (vectors) such as ticks and mosquitoes.

In his own research, Daniels has focused on vertebrate-tick relationships and the ecology of Lyme disease in the northeastern United States, as well the ecology of the West Nile virus in the Northeast. He credits co-researcher Wehr with laying a successful foundation for the center.

“I’m flattered to be asked to take over as director when John steps down, and excited to begin the next stage in Calder’s growth. The center has untapped potential that we all see, and I’m committed to help move us along the path to reaching that potential,” Daniels said.
Daniels said his primary role would be “helping to facilitate the research efforts of our faculty and graduate students at Calder.”

“That, in turn, will generate opportunities for our undergraduate students to assist in active research and come away with a unique field experience. It is why Calder exists.”

Jonathan Crystal, Ph.D., associate vice president and associate chief academic officer in the Office of the Provost, said the office is “thrilled” that Daniels is taking the position. He likewise noted that “without the work of John [Wehr], there would have been no Calder Center.”

Wehr will stay on at the center and continue research in aquatic biology.

“The Calder Center is an important asset for Fordham, supporting research and educational opportunities not only for our own faculty and students, but for others across the region and nationwide,” Crystal said.

“We have a lot of confidence that, under Tom’s leadership, Calder will make great strides in fulfilling the field station’s potential.”

Currently, one in six of Fordham’s undergraduates are majoring in biology or pre-health, or both. In 2013, Calder’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program attracted 170 applicants for 10 positions. Calder’s graduate students regularly go on to careers that make use of their biological training, including positions at the Alaska SeaLife Center, the Central Park Zoo, the Malcolm-Pirnie environmental consultancy, the National Wildlife Federation, the New York Botanical Garden, New York Medical College, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

For Nancy Busch, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and chief research officer/associate vice-president for academic affairs, the transition is a good time to reflect on how Wehr’s work helped make the Calder Center a nationally and internationally recognized field station whose scientists are at the forefront of research and education on issues of ecological significance and global conservation.

“I believe that Tom Daniels will continue to establish Calder’s prominence as a center for the study of key issues in ecology involving urbanization and conservation, such as invasive species, water quality and vector borne illnesses like Lyme disease,” she said.

“Tom has great passion for Calder and understanding of its unique position as a biological field research station at the urban-rural gradient in one of the world’s foremost urban environments.”