Dr. Shakila Merchant was invited to attend the Youth Engagement in International Climate Negotiations workshop held at and organized by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, on December 4, 2023. For the society to address the climate crisis and ensure climate justice, John Jay college aims to help youth voices, particularly from impacted communities, be heard. To forward the mission, the college is helping prepare its students for participation in the 2024 Conference of Youth (COY) and Conference of Parties (COP) international climate discussion at the United Nations. To this end, the workshop was an introductory and planning meeting.
Dr. Merchant is a strong supporter of STEM education for high schoolers and youth empowerment. She is the director of the CUNY CREST High School Initiative in Remote Sensing of the Earth Systems Engineering & Sciences (HIRES) program. For the last 10 years, HIRES has successfully provided advanced STEM research training to NYC high school students from underrepresented groups.
