Urban Environments and Public Health

Epidemics, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanism, storms, and their prediction and effects on urban societies have become a subject of intense concern. The Urban Environment and Public Health core area focuses on these and other environmental, geological, and geomedical aspects of urban life. The Graduate Center's unique location in the heart of one of the world's largest urban areas insures that students interested in contributing to improvement in urban life, in the health of urban populations and the preservation of natural ecosystems in urban settings will find unexcelled opportunities at CUNY. Current research in this core area includes studies of: the effect of New York City power station effluents on fish populations; monitoring of heavy metal and organic compounds in benthos/bottom sediment/water in New York City estuaries; repopulation of native species in New York coastal waters; the epidemiology and risk assessment of asbestos, arsenic, silica, talc, polychlorinated biphenyls, and cigarette smoke in human populations.