Park-as-Lab

Park-as-Lab is a community research collaborative uniting scientists, students, and communities in research to better understand NYC’s urban ecology. This program was created by the Randall’s Island Park Alliance in order to enhance civic engagement, bolster STEM careers, and enrich ecosystem knowledge for resilient, inclusive communities. It’s research for the people, by the people!

The Park-as-Lab program at Randall’s Island Park is an innovative approach to urban park research, turning the park into a dynamic field laboratory. This initiative supports a wide range of research activities, focusing on social, environmental, and ecological aspects of urban parks. It’s a unique platform where RIPA staff, students, university professors, and partner organizations collaborate to monitor and explore various facets of park life.

Our goal is to make science accessible and engaging. Park-as-Lab encourages public involvement in scientific research, from the initial idea to its execution. This hands-on approach helps to bridge the gap between community needs and environmental research.

Interested in contributing to, participating in, or learning more about our Park-as-Lab program? Contact us at [email protected].

Key objectives include:

Facilitating applied environmental science and ecology research on Randall’s Island Park.
Promoting public participation in science, aligning research with community interests.
Building lasting partnerships with diverse researchers through active engagement and communication.

Discover more in our Data Repository!

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The Randall’s Island Park Alliance is proud to program and maintain Park-as-Lab and greatly appreciates donations to help continue to make these events possible.

Urban Ecology Research

Through the Park-as-Lab program, researchers at all levels, from students to professionals, use Randall’s Island Park as a site to explore scientific questions related to environmental science and urban ecology. Student researchers, with an adviser from their school, conduct independent research projects or assist with a long-term monitoring project on the island. Topics range from the impact of water quality on fish community composition to evaluating the ability of plants and soil microbes to remediate soils. RIPA also asks for local stakeholders’ input so that Park-as-Lab research reflects community-identified needs and interests.

Environmental Monitoring & Community Engagement

RIPA connects students, researchers, and communities to the park through environmental monitoring. Interested students, individuals, and organizations have opportunities to work with RIPA’s staff and participate in monitoring projects, such as counting and identifying the fish species that live in our waterways and tagging monarch butterflies migrating through New York City. Staff and volunteers collect data to contribute to larger citywide and regional projects that improve our understanding of local ecosystems. Check out RIPA’s website for opportunities to participate in Park-as-Lab events and environmental monitoring activities.

Outreach & Internship Programming

RIPA works with partner organizations to ensure that research on Randall’s Island Park is informed by and benefits the surrounding communities. Data and reports from research and monitoring projects are shared on RIPA’s website within our data repository.

Park-as-Lab is also the home of the Working Apprenticeship Through Estuarine Research for Students (WATERS) internship program. Through WATERS, high school and college-age research interns engage in every step of research development, from initial study design to data analysis and exploring careers in and gaining professional development in STEM fields. Contact us if you’d like to participate!