The Center for Advanced Environmental Research
An Interview with John Cronin
Q. What is The Beacon Institute's vision for The Center for Advanced Research (CAER)?
JC: The Center for Advanced Environmental Research is going to be The Beacon Institute's central facility for the innovation and development of technologies for real-time monitoring of rivers and estuaries. We intend for CAET to be a cross-disciplinary, multifunctional facility linking scientists, engineers, policy makers and scholars to solve the critical issues related to human impacts on rivers and estuaries.
Those who will be working at CAER have three large goals. The first goal - which is overarching - is that CAER will be the central facility and home of the River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) we are creating in collaboration with IBM. It will also be the hub where we team up with harbor facilities and research vessels for deployment. Our goal is to incorporate "green" research methods wherever possible, in keeping with the LEED certification we are anticipating with the design of the building itself.
Within that context there are two more goals: adaption of existing ocean technologies for specialized use with rivers and estuaries, and creation of technologies that have yet to be invented. With adaption of technology, at some point the innovation becomes so extreme that it becomes a totally new approach or device.
Q. What kind of remote sensing devices will you invent?
JC: We intend to create or adapt remote sensing technology that can detect physical, chemical and biological changes in rivers and estuaries. While some of this remote sensing technology is already in use in our oceans, biological sensing is one of the great frontiers of remote sensing technology. This area is ripe for development, since biological sensing technology only exists in rudimentary forms.
With biological sensors we could detect and collect data on organisms, differentiating by species as well as size. This kind of technology would allow us to develop early warning systems to tell us when fish are in vicinity of power plants' cooling water intakes, for example. This is important for any river, but especially critical for the Hudson where we have over 200 kinds of fish. This is exactly the kind of tool that would allow us to better manage the Hudson, protect fish habitats, predict the impact of habitat alteration and gauge fish abundance and population.
Q. The Beacon Institute has engaged Croxton Collaborative Architects, P.C., green design pioneers, to head the planning and design of CAER. Part of their task is to create a dynamic workspace that encourages and increases spontaneous face-to-face meetings and work sessions. Can you say more about the collaborative model are you intending for CAER?
JC: Yes, rather than a linear approach - scientific research, then interpretation and application - we are looking to incorporate a "circle of consultation" model where we consider a variety of perspectives as we develop our research projects. That means we will invite interdisciplinary teams of scientists, engineers, policy specialists and educators to sit at the table with us as we develop our research questions and objectives. We want to design our research and technological innovations around pressing policy questions and gaps in knowledge. So it's more than having only scientists posing questions about fish - we would have policy makers enunciate what state policy requires and how policy can be more effective. We also would include educators at all levels to ask the key education questions we need to answer, so these also become part of design of technology and research. Our goal is ask all those questions up front so that our research can be effective on multiple levels.
Q. Where will CAER be located and when do you anticipate breaking ground on CAER?
JC: CAER will be constructed on the footprint of a former industrial plant on historic Denning's Point on the Hudson River in the city of Beacon, NY, adjacent to Building One. While we are still in the design and planning process for CAER, we hope to break ground in late 2009 or 2010.
