Undergraduate interns with the New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) are laying the groundwork this summer for a collaborative digital mural about climate change in the Kettle Lakes Watershed. The project is one of ten community-based projects that recently received Engaged Opportunity Grants from the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement. 

Offered three times a year, Engaged Opportunity Grants provide up to $5,000 to Cornell faculty and staff to include undergraduate students in community-engaged learning opportunities.

The digital mural project is co-led by NYSWRI and the Cortland-Onondaga Federation of Kettle Lakes Associations, and the mural itself will be created by Brandon Lazore (Onondaga). The four student interns are spending the summer supporting participatory workshops, gathering insights from local community representatives that will inform the artwork. The collaborative effort will highlight the lakes’ value and threats and their significance to the Onondaga Nation.

In another summer grant project, Improving Dental Clinic Accessibility, a university-community team is creating an augmented reality approach to give people with autism spectrum disorder more control over dental experiences. The Cornell team, which includes two undergraduates, is collaborating with YAI, a nonprofit organization in New York City that supports the intellectual and developmental disabilities community.

The Einhorn Center has awarded 281 Engaged Opportunity Grants since 2017, providing support to faculty and staff at every Cornell undergraduate school and college. In 2023-24, 17 EOGs were given to faculty and staff working with 25 community partners locally, nationally and globally. 

Other projects funded in this round are:

• Bite Back: Raising awareness to prevent tick-borne diseases in Tompkins County
• Center for Climate Change Education Teacher Academy: Equipping regional K-12 teachers to integrate climate topics into curricula
• Embracing Aging: Integrating intergenerational knowledge into evolutionary education, conservation and scientific communication
• Fostering Youth Civic Engagement with America’s Voice Project: Aiding educators and librarians in developing synergies for important youth skills development
• Heading Into Night: A clown play about forgetting
• ReEntry Theatre Program: Collaboratively creating the scenic design for a new play exploring the impacts of the criminal justice system on families
• Summer Rowing Camp for Ithaca-Area Youth: A partnership among Cascadilla Boat Club, Village at Ithaca and Cornell University
• WASH Program-Engineers In Action: Addressing water accessibility, showcasing adaptability and resilience in Eswatini