CREST hosted the first United Nations University (UNU) Hub —Remote-Sensing and Sustainable Innovations for Resilient Urban Systems (R-SIRUS) retreat at the City College of New York on February 13, 2025. The goal of the retreat was to deliberate, brainstorm and develop the R-SIRUS’s short-term (0-2 years) and long-term (2-5 years) strategic plan.
On November 5, 2024, the first UNU in the United States and the world’s first UNU hub uniquely focussed on the use of remote sensing and innovative technologies to work towards the sustainability of urban environments was launched at the CCNY of the City University of New York. Grove School of Engineering (GSOE) Dean, Alexander Couzis and CREST Executive Director, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi serve as the co-directors of the Hub. Through this partnership, CCNY and UNU aim to engage in innovative research, training, and policy developments that focus on providing practical and actionable solutions to the growing problems of urban cities and regions, including coastal cities, under climate and anthropogenic changes.
The retreat served as a great opportunity to gather input and feedback from all CCNY Stakeholders and participants to finalize our goals and objectives, develop new initiatives in research, education, and policy; design and launch R-SIRUS website; and identify collaboration with national and international organizations and experts.
Dr. Couzis delivered the opening remarks focussing on the hub’s goals. This was followed by a session on discussing R-SIRUS’s priorities led by the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) & CREST’s Environmental & Societal Risks Co-Director, Dr. Kaveh Madani. Further, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi elaborated on the direction that the hub must follow to be successful in its goals. To give an overview of CREST capacities in contributing towards R-SIRUS, professors and CREST pillar members presented on: Research and innovation capabilities (Dr. Kyle McDonald, Maria Tzortziou, Mitch Goldberg); Education, training, and capacity building (Drs. Naresh Devineni and Tarendra Lakhankar); and Policy Advocacy & Outreach (Drs. Jean Krasno and Susanna Schaller).
CREST students Nadia Kadiwala, Shima Kamali, Shahriyar Islam, Maris Quagliata, Ali Haider, and Ana Mejia served as rapporteurs for the retreat.
The retreat concluded with CUNY CREST HIRES Director, Dr. Shakila Merchant providing a summary and action items and closing remarks by Drs. Alex Couzis and Reza Khanbilvardi. It resulted in constructive feedback, suggestions, assessment of challenges, and action items.
