Berg, Santlofer Awarded NYU Sustainability Fund Grant

Jennifer Berg, Director of Graduate Program in Food Studies, and Joy Santlofer, Adjunct Faculty Member, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health, Steinhardt School are the recipients of an NYU Sustainability Fund Grant for their proposal, Grow, Cook, Eat, Learn (GCEL), a self-contained sustainable food system and urban agricultural working laboratory. The plan proposes a ground-level greenhouse that will incorporate the entire food production cycle from production to harvesting, cooking, nutrition, consumption, waste and composting. This working "lab" will be a microcosm of the newly-proposed NYU Food Systems academic program. The approved proposal has two components: an initial street- or rooftop-level garden, and a K-5 agricultural science curriculum, with potential for undergraduate research/collaboration.

GCEL is one of 15 green projects awarded by NYU's Sustainability Task Force. The selected proposals were submitted in response to a campus-wide Request for Proposals (RFP) for innovative, effective and feasible projects that help the university achieve its goals of reducing environmental impacts and raising awareness within the NYU community as to the importance of the sustainability agenda.