Awards & Honors

In its first season, the Solar RoofPod garden atop the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture building has yielded tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini, cucumber, broccoli, eggplant, cauliflower, jalapenos and other vegetables planted by CCNY Green and students from the City College-based High School for Math, Science and Engineering (HSMSE).

The concept proven, the garden has now also won a $200,000 grant from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office to expand its current 1,000 square feet of space to an “urban farm” of 4,000 square feet.

Professor Christian Volkmann has led the Solar RoofPod project since its inception as an entry in the 2011 Solar Decathlon. CCNY Green members involved in the project include chair Wei Ying Zhang B Arch ’17, Jorge Burgos B Arch ’17, and Alanna Leung ’17 (biochemistry). Leung and Zhang are both in the Macaulay Honors College. These Spitzer School students along with Professor Volkmann are collaborating with HSMSE students, teachers, and administrators to create an interdisciplinary curriculum and to provide a hands-on experience of raising agricultural crops, demonstrating the vital link between STEM studies, sustainability, local food systems, and health and nutrition.

Members of the community can sample the delicious produce at events at the RoofPod 4:30 p.m. every other Friday from September 16 to December 9.

An article in New York Daily News has underscored the involvement of students from the High School for Math, Science and Engineering with the RoofPod garden.

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