Cypress Hills Air Quality
2013
Project Lead
Sarah Williams
Research Assistant
Alicia Rouault
Collaborators
Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation P.S. 89
Public Laboratory
Support from
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
Project Lead
Sarah Williams
Research Assistant
Alicia Rouault
Collaborators
Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation P.S. 89
Public Laboratory
Support from
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
Overview
A collaborative effort between the Civic Data Design Lab, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, the Cypress Hills P.S. 89 after school program, and innovators at Public Laboratory, this project raises awareness of environmental risks associated with poor air quality in Cypress Hills, New York. Local youth catalogued environmental air pollutants by working with portable air quality measurement kits. MIT graduate students in Sarah Williams’ Crowdsourced City course then used this data to do a baseline analysis of the neighborhood, decide on air quality testing sites, and make maps of air quality readings. The work was then presented on an informative website for students and community members. In addition, Public Laboratory used the information to teach educational workshops to youth groups in data collection and analysis.
