Who is the NYC urban ERW team?
Researchers, educators, and students at the ag-climate intersection
by: Jonathan Lambert and Julia Dacey on June 19, 2026
This interdisciplinary project is made possible through close collaboration across New York University and beyond. Internal collaborators and supporters span 4 NYU schools, funding has come from 3 separate NYU offices, and external organizations in both upstate New York and in Singapore are engaged in this ongoing work. This is only year 1 of the project, and we are excited to expand to include an even greater breadth of collaborators and supporters. Below, we share the background and contributions of the current suite of individuals and organizations involved.
Initial project members
Dr. Jonathan Lambert is the lead of this urban enhanced rock weathering (ERW) project. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Climate Science at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and uses the site for research, teaching, and outreach. His scientific expertise is in geochemistry, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and past climate change. This project uniquely contains aspects of each of these themes (see our “Intro to ERW” blog). His courses that incorporate this urban ERW work include The State of the Art in Climate Change Solutions and Food, Farming, and Environmental Stewardship. Prior to joining NYU, Lambert worked first-hand with ERW practitioners – creating and communicating agricultural ERW protocols with the carbon registry Isometric, and collaborating with nonprofits such as Cascade Climate and the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative to evaluate both the carbon and environmental impact of ERW.
Lambert has recently published work analyzing ERW already occurring on tennis courts, and he is part of multiple soon-to-be-published projects which span themes from soil metal accumulation due to ERW to a comprehensive meta-analysis of carbon removal from all published ERW literature (see “Research”). Finally, he is focused on using ERW as a bridge to science education, citizen science, and community outreach. He is co-hosting a natural climate solutions workshop at Vassar College in Spring 2027, and a future blog will detail upcoming events focused specifically on urban ERW.
Julia Dacey has worked as a research assistant on this project since shortly after its initial ideation stage in late Fall 2025. Julia is an undergraduate student in the NYU College of Arts and Sciences (class of 2029) double majoring in liberal studies and media, culture, and communication (the latter is an NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development program). She brings her learnings in these majors to help craft communication materials (blogs, factsheets, social media, etc.) for the project as well as to help develop and organize NYC and NYU community outreach events. Dacey grew up less than 15 miles from NYU and has always taken an interest in environmental science topics – particularly climate action. She is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to both the research and communication efforts that support the development of urban ERW.
This project would not have found a home at the NYU Urban Farm Lab without support from Melissa Metrick – manager of the Farm Lab and Adjunct Faculty at NYU Steinhardt. Metrick uses the lab to teach hands-on urban agriculture classes and engage with guests (from the general public to NYU faculty) about growing food in a city environment. She is also a Brooklyn Botanic Garden certified horticulturist and a graduate of the NYU master’s program in Food Studies.
Expansion to Governor’s Island
At the Gallatin School, Dr. Karen Holmberg has championed this work and has given it the opportunity to expand to the the Gallatin Wetlab on Governor’s Island. This expansion will be conducted in raised beds and will be combined with analysis of microplastics in soils (to be covered in a future blog post). Holmberg is a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU Gallatin and also serves as the Scientific Director of the Gallatin Wetlab. She is a volcanologist and archaeologist who examines human experience with radically changing environments. She is deeply interested in creative communication of science and engineering, and has broad fieldwork experience in settings ranging from the Amazon to the Antarctic. Lambert and Holmberg will host public-facing workshops on Governor’s Island meant to engage casual visitors in the creativity and impact of everyday science.
Additional support
Other people and organizations that have supported this urban ERW work include:
Jade McClain and Jonathan King from NYU Public Affairs who have written about and filmed aspects of this project to promote engagement online and within the NYU and NYC communities
Dr. Bridger Ruyle at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, whose lab will be used to analyze the geochemistry of soil samples to determine total carbon dioxide removal occurring at the site
Dr. Jacob Remes, Dr. Fiona Williamson, and Dr. Mehmet Darakcioglu have accepted this work to be presented at the “Food and the City Symposium” in July 2026 jointly hosted by the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU and the College of Integrative Studies (CIS) at Singapore Management University (SMU)
The NYU Sustainability Undergraduate Research Assistant (SURA) program which provide initial funding for Dacey
The NYU Gallatin Faculty Enrichment Program which provided continued funding for student support and broader project goals
The NYU Goddard Impact Award Program which provided funding to expand this project to the Gallatin WetLab on Governor’s island
