In 2005, Prof. Nasreen Haque, Barnard College, Columbia University and Prof. Nilofar Haque, NYCCT, CUNY established a program “What lies Beneath” to educate and raise awareness about the underwater world. This program provided a real life experience for students enabling their active participation. The enthusiastic support from many individuals and groups was fundamental to its success. The participants included the NYPD scuba diving team, Life Support Technologies specializing in hyperbaric medicine, Urban Divers, an environmental conservancy group and NYSMEA an environmental educational group, Columbia University and the City University of New York. Due to its huge success annual programs were organized.
As research in the professor’s lab corresponded with some work of the oceanographer Sylvia Earle, they were invited by the World Science Festival Pioneers – students who were following her work. The students had the opportunity to spend some time in the lab and were introduced to hands on experience in both scuba diving and biological methodology. (pic with SE at WSF here).
In 2009, ‘What lies beneath’ became ‘Science of Underwater Exploration’ and was offered to a larger audience (estimated 175,000 people) at the annual World Science Festival, to enjoy and learn about Science. A non-profit organization, Genomic Observatory [GO] was established to convey awareness about the importance of environment on human health by using DNA technology.
In 2012 WSF organized an exposition/ symposium was organized which was accompanied by the Science of Underwater Exploration, where students across the city were invited to participate and present their findings and celebrate the underwater world.