Faculty researchers from schools across the CUNY network have been awarded funding to begin work on how to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects on the environment.

CUNY’s new Interdisciplinary Climate Crisis Research Grant program provides funding for the purchase of innovative equipment.

Among the groups selected for funding is a group of environmental engineers who will test systems they’ve invented that use newly developed devices for harvest evaporation of coastal areas, like lakes, to be converted into mechanical energy or electricity.

Another team will study the effects of a warming climate on the health of older New Yorkers with pulmonary and cardiovascular conditions.

“CUNY is poised to be a leader in the development of climate-change solutions for urban and coastal environments, and in growing New York’s green economy,” said Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “The Climate Crisis Research Grant program is a way to tap the vast expertise of our faculty and encourage collaboration across disciplines and between campuses. And with our strong ties to city and state agencies and our integration with neighborhoods throughout the city, we are in a unique position to inform a local response to the undeniable threats posed by a global problem.”

The program drew from more than 50 applicants from faculty teams seeking grants for climate change-based studies.